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WILD  BIRD  GUESTS 


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WILD    BIRD    GUESTS 


HOW  TO  ENTERTAIN  THEM 

WITH  CHAPTERS  ON  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIRDS 
THEIR    ECONOMIC    AND    ESTHETIC    VALUES 
SUGGESTIONS  FOR  DEALING  WITH  THEIR 
ENEMIES,    AND    ON   THE   ORGANIZA- 
TION    AND     MANAGEMENT     OF 
BIRD  CLUBS 


BY 

ERNEST   HAROLD    BAYNES 

WITH  A  PREFACE  BY 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 


WITH  50  PHOTOGRAVURE  ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 
1915 


COPYRIGHT,  1915 

BY 

E.  P.  BUTTON    &   COMPANY 


Ube  fmfcfcerbocfeer  press,  flew  l&orfc 


Co 
MY  WIFE 

A  STANCH   FRIEND   OF   THE   BIRDS 
AND  ALWAYS  MY  BEST  ASSISTANT 

THIS  BOOK  Is  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

MR.  BAYNES  has  written  not  only  a  very  in- 
teresting book  but  one  that  is  really  of  capital 
importance.  We  Americans  have  recklessly 
wasted  our  national  assets  in  the  past.  But 
now  there  has  come  a  change.  We  are  trying 
to  preserve  our  forests  and  utilize  our  water 
supply  and  care  for  the  soil  instead  of  merely 
exhausting  it.  One  of  the  pleasantest  features 
of  the  new  movement  is  the  constantly  growing 
interest  in  wild  life,  and  especially  in  bird  life. 
The  Meriden  Bird  Club  has  furnished  a  model 
for  all  similar  experiments  in  preserving  bird  life, 
and  Mr.  Baynes  writes  in  advocacy  of  a  cause 
which  by  practical  achievement  he  has  shown  to 
be  entitled  to  the  support  of  every  sensible  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  country.  I  say  "  child  " 
advisedly,  for  boys  and  girls  have  a  peculiar  part 
to  play  in  the  crusade  for  the  better  protection 
of  our  birds.  There  is  sound  economic  reason 
for  protecting  the  birds;  and  in  addition  there 
is  ample  reason  for  protecting  them  simply  be- 
cause they  add  immeasurably  to  the  joy  of  life, 


VI 


Preface 


and  of  all  those  fit  really  to  enjoy  life  outside  of 
our  great  cities  or  even  in  the  parks  and  suburbs 
of  our  great  cities.  I  speak  as  one  who  has  in 
his  own  person  benefited  by  the  result  of  Mr. 
Baynes's  missionary  work,  for  in  consequence 
of  this  work  we  who  live  on  Long  Island  have 
now  organized  a  Bird  Club  for  the  Island.  Our 
endeavor  is  to  do  for  Long  Island  some  small 
part  of  what  has  been  done  by  the  Meriden 
Bird  Club  and  kindred  organizations  in  New 
Hampshire  and  elsewhere. 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 


FOREWORD 

"  Kind  hearts  need  no  compulsion  to  be  kind.*' 

MACKAYE. 

FOR  a  long  time  it  has  been  the  writer's  belief 
that  the  final  solution  of  the  problem  of  wild 
bird  conservation  lay,  not  in  the  enacting  of  more 
or  better  laws,  necessary  as  those  laws  are,  but 
in  the  creation  of  such  an  interest  in,  and  love 
for  birds,  that  a  very  large  majority  of  people 
will  have  not  only  no  desire  to  destroy  them, 
but  will  actually  fight  to  prevent  their  de- 
struction; and  that  the  birds  themselves  will 
become  as  safe  as  valuable  private  property. 
This,  it  seems,  would  be  a  fundamental  solution. 
Most  bird  protection  laws  are  in  the  nature  of 
artificial  restraints  upon  people  who  desire  to 
kill.  Restraints  are  often  necessary  but  seldom 
popular.  People  do  not  like  to  be  told  not  to 
do  things  which  they  very  much  desire  to  do; 
consequently  such  laws  are  often  hard  to  obtain 
and  harder  to  enforce.  Now,  if  we  could  create 
the  interest  and  love  referred  to,  we  might  ac- 

vii 


viii  Foreword 

complish  a  double  purpose;  viz.,  first,  a  great 
reduction  in  the  number  of  people  who  desire 
to  destroy  the  birds  for  any  purpose,  and  thus, 
second,  make  it  much  easier  to  enforce  existing 
laws  in  the  case  of  those  who  still  persist  in  the 
desire  to  destroy.  In  other  words,  every  person 
in  whom  we  succeed  in  implanting  this  inter- 
est and  love  would  be  a  recruit  for  the  army  of 
bird  defenders  directly  from  the  ranks  of  either 
the  bird  destroyers  or  the  indifferent,  who  are 
often  quite  as  dangerous  as  the  destroyers  them- 
selves. The  result  would  be  the  strengthening 
of  the  defenders  and  a  corresponding  weakening 
of  the  destroyers,  and  the  tendency  would  ever 
be  to  facilitate  the  passage  of  such  laws  as  might 
still  be  necessary,  and  to  make  difficult  the 
successful  defiance  of  them. 

Now  comes  the  question  as  to  how  this  interest 
and  the  love  which  the  interest  begets,  can 
most  readily  be  implanted  in  the  heart  of  the 
average  man,  woman,  and  child.  The  writer 
believes  that  the  answer  to  this  question  lies 
in  doing  active  work  directly  for  the  birds. 
There  are  few  laws  more  sacred  than  those  of 
hospitality.  It  is  not  possible  for  us  to  be 
indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  our  invited  guests. 
The  moment  a  person — be  it  man  or  bird — has 
accepted  our  hospitality,  has  broken  bread  with 


Foreword  ix 

us>  has  eaten  our  salt,  our  relations  toward  that 
person  have  changed.  We  have  been  looked 
upon  with  the  eyes  of  friendship — we  have  been 
trusted,  and  if  we  are  even  half  decent  we  cannot 
betray  our  trust.  Through  the  primitive  man 
which  is  in  most  of  us,  we  may  kill  a  bird  which 
we  see  in  the  wilderness,  a  stranger  and  on  his 
guard ;  but  the  bird  which  comes  to  our  garden, 
to  our  home,  onto  our  hand  perhaps,  at  our 
express  invitation,  we  must  protect  with  all  the 
manliness,  with  all  the  womanliness  in  our  make- 
up. I  shall  never  forget  the  first  time  a  chick- 
adee alighted  upon  me,  and  I  felt  his  wiry  little 
hands  close  around  my  finger,  while  he  cocked 
his  head  on  one  side  and  looked  up  at  me  from 
under  his  little  black  cap,  as  much  as  to  say, 
" Is  it  all  right?  Honest?" 

It  surely  was  all  right!  I  was  a  champion 
of  the  chickadee  from  that  moment,  and  to-day 
I  can  think  of  no  surer  way  for  a  man  to  effect 
an  instant  quarrel  with  me  than  by  injuring  a 
bird  of  this  species.  And  a  love  for  one  bird 
tends  to  beget  a  love  for  other  birds. 

For  the  past  few  years  I  have  been  watching 
the  results  of  studied  kindness  and  hospitality 
to  the  birds,  and  the  results  have  been  good. 
I  have  seen  the  attitude  of  a  whole  town  change 
from  one  of  utter  indifference  to  birds,  to  one  of 


x  Foreword 

enthusiastic  interest  in  them,  and  I  have  seen 
this  not  once  but  many  times. 

I  have  organized  many  bird  clubs — clubs 
which  have  for  their  chief  object  not  so  much  the 
study  of  birds  as  the  extension  of  hospitality  to 
them,  and  in  every  case  the  result  has  been  a 
better  understanding  between  the  members  and 
their  feathered  neighbors,  the  creation  of  a  strong 
local  sentiment  in  favor  of  birds,  and  an  amount 
of  rational  enjoyment  and  moral  uplift  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  labor  and  expense  involved. 

The  writer  makes  no  claim  to  originality, 
except  in  the  idea  that  bird  clubs  may  be  made  a 
most  powerful  factor  in  the  work  of  bird  con- 
servation, and  incidentally  in  the  social  life  of 
the  people  in  the  towns  and  villages  where  they 
are  organized.  Judging  from  his  own  experience  it 
should  be  possible  in  a  few  years'  time  to  spread 
a  network  of  such  clubs  over  the  United  States. 
Any  wide-awake,  enthusiastic  bird  lover  with  a 
reasonable  knowledge  of  methods  of  attracting 
and  protecting  birds  can  organize  a  bird  club  al- 
most anywhere.  In  order  to  do  so  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  be  an  ornithologist;  one  need  not  know 
a  scarlet  tanager  from  a  great  blue  heron, 
if  only  he  has  enthusiasm — that  is  absolutely 
essential. 

Because  of  the  enormous  value  of  birds — 


Foreword  xi 

economic,  aesthetic,  and  moral — the  writer  be- 
lieves that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  civilized  com- 
munity to  take  its  part  in  a  great  world-wide 
campaign  for  the  conservation  of  bird  life,  and 
he  knows  of  no  more  practical  way  to  do  this 
than  by  the  organization  of  a  bird  club  whose 
principal  object  is  the  care  of  the  local  birds. 
If  this  little  book  helps  to  inspire  its  readers 
to  organize  such  bird  clubs  in  their  respective 
towns  and  assists  them  in  their  efforts  to  do 
something  for  the  birds,  whether  they  succeed 
in  organizing  a  bird  club  or  not,  it  will  have 
accomplished  the  object  for  which  it  was  written. 

E.  H.  B. 

MERIDEN,  N.  H., 
May  i, 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

FOREWORD  iii 


PART  I 

WHY   BIRDS   NEED   PROTECTION 

CHAPTER 

I.    AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  SOME  WINTER  GUESTS        i 

II.    THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIRDS  BY  THE  ELE- 
MENTS AND  BY  DISEASE     .         .         .10 

III.  THE   DESTRUCTION  OF   BIRDS  BY  THEIR 

NATURAL  ENEMIES   ....       20 

IV.  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIRDS  BY  MAN  AND 

BY    CERTAIN    ANIMALS    FOR    WHOSE 
PRESENCE  MAN  is  RESPONSIBLE         .       39 

PART  II 

WHY    IT    IS    WORTH    WHILE    TO    GIVE    BIRDS    PROTECTION 

V.    THE  MONEY  VALUE  OF  BIRDS  .         .         .81 

VI.    THE  ESTHETIC  AND  MORAL  VALUES  OF 

BIRDS 115 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

PART   III 

HOW    WE    CAN    ALL    HELP    TO    PROTECT    THE    BIRDS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VII.    THE  ENTERTAINMENT  OF  WILD  BIRDS  IN 

WINTER 127 

VIII.  HOSPITALITY  ALL  THE  YEAR  'ROUND  WITH 
A  LIST  OF  THE  TREES,  SHRUBS,  AND 
CREEPERS  MOST  ATTRACTIVE  TO  BIRDS  163 

IX.  THE  BIRD  LOVER  AS  A  LANDLORD.  A 
CHAPTER  CONCERNING  NEST  BOXES, 
NEST  SHELVES,  ETC.  .  .  .192 

X.    BIRD  BATHS  AND  DRINKING  POOLS    .         .219 
XI.    SOME  OF  THE  PROBLEMS  WHICH  CONFRONT 

BEGINNERS      .....     233 

XII.    BIRD  CLUBS,  How  TO  ORGANIZE  THEM, 

WHAT  THEY  CAN  Do  TO  BE  USEFUL  .    269 

APPENDIX. — CONSTITUTIONS    OF    CERTAIN    BIRD 

CLUBS 299 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 310 

INDEX      ........     317 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


FLICKER  FEEDING  ITS  YOUNG  IN  A  BERLEPSCH 

NEST  Box*          ....       Frontispiece 

THE  AUTHOR  AND  A  FRIENDLY  CHICKADEE     .         .         4 

From  a  photograph  by  Louise  Birt  Baynes 

I  WONDER  WHAT  HE'S  GOT  IN  THAT    ...        8 
A  CHICKADEE  GUEST 8 

From  photographs  by  Louise  Birt  Baynes 

LAPLAND  LONGSPURS  AFTER  A  STORM     .    .   16 

From  a  photograph  by  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Roberts 

QUAIL  DEAD  FROM  STARVATION  .         .         .         .16 

From  a  photograph  by  Wilbur  Smith 

A    RED    SQUIRREL    USURPING    FEED    Box    AND 

BATH*        .......       22 

RED    FOXES    DESTROY    BIRDS    BOTH    OLD    AND 
YOUNG*         .......       22 

TRACKS  OF  A  MINK*  ......       28 

THE  SKUNK  WILL  EAT  YOUNG  WILD  BIRDS  AS 

WELL  AS  HENS* 34 

"ADVANCING  DEATH."    THE  WHITE  WEASEL,  OR 

ERMINE* 34 

THE  SNOWY  OWL  is  PARTIAL  TO  WATERFOWL*      .       40 

THE  RACCOON  DINES  ON  BIRDS  WHEN  HE  CAN*    .      50 

xv 


xvi  Illustrations 


FACING 
PAGE 


THE  OPOSSUM  WILL  DESTROY  BIRDS  AND  EGGS*    .       58 
AMERICAN  SONG  BIRDS  KILLED  BY  ITALIANS          .       66 

From  a  photograph  by  Wilbur  Smith 

A  SNAPPING  TURTLE  DESTROYED  FIFTEEN  YOUNG 

WOOD  DUCKS 74 

From  a  photograph  by  E.  A.  Quarles 

THIS   BULL  FROG  COULD  SWALLOW  A  YOUNG 

WATERFOWL* 74 

MONUMENT  TO  THE  SEA  GULLS  IN  SALT  LAKE 

CITY 84 

Designed  by  Mahonri  Young 

THE  GREAT  HORNED  OWL  DESTROYS  MANY  BIRD 

ENEMIES*  .......       92 

SCREECH  OWL  AND  ITS  HOME-MADE  BIRD  HOUSE*    .     100 

STOMACH  CONTENTS  OF  A  MEADOW  LARK:    FOUR- 
TEEN CUTWORMS,  THIRTY-SIX  BEETLES          .     108 
From  a  photograph  by  Harold  C.  Bryant 

A  BARN  OWL'S  SCRAP  HEAP:    BONES  OF  MICE, 

BUT  NO  FEATHERS 108 

From  a  photograph  by  Thomas  H.  Jackson 

ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-THREE  REDPOLLS  AND 

PINE  SISKINS  AS  GUESTS*     .         .         .         .116 

MARTIN  HOUSE  IN  A  MERIDEN  GARDEN*      .         .116 
GROUSE  BURROW  IN  THE  SNOW*          .         .         .122 

A  FEEDING  STATION  WHERE  THE  "BIRD  MASQUE" 

WAS  STAGED* 130 

QUAIL  SAVED  FROM  STARVATION  BY  HIGH-SCHOOL 

BOYS 130 

From  a  photograph  by  John  Tresilian 


Illustrations  xvii 


FACING 
PAGE 


A  "WEATHERCOCK"  FOOD  HOUSE*      .         .         .140 
A  WINDOW  Box  IN  THE  AUTHOR'S  STUDY     .         .     148 

From  a  photograph  by  Louise  Birt  Baynes 

AN  AUDUBON  FOOD  HOUSE  IN  WINTER*        .         .154 

AN  "AUTOMATIC"  FOOD  HOUSE  HOLDS  A  BUSHEL 

OF  SEED* 154 

BARRED  OWL,  USUALLY  A  BENEFICIAL  BIRD*  .     160 

A  DECORATIVE  BIRD  BATH*         .         .         .  .168 

YOUNG  BALTIMORE  ORIOLE  BEFORE  THE  BATH*  .     178 

AFTER  THE  BATH  *  .         .         .         .  .178 

SONG  SPARROWS  ENJOYING  A  BATH*     .         .  .190 

BIRD  BATH  IN  THE  AUTHOR'S  GARDEN.         .  .     190 

From  a  photograph  by  Louise  Birt  Baynes 

CHICKADEE  FEEDING  UNDER  A  BERLEPSCH  "FOOD 

BELL"* 202 

CHICKADEE  AT  A  BERLEPSCH  NEST  Box*      .         .     202 

A  BIRD  BATH  MEMORIAL  TO  EDWARD  EVERETT 

HALE* 212 

A  BIRD  BATH  IN  NEWTON  CENTRE,  MASS.    .         .     226 

From  a  photograph  by  Marr 

BRONZE  BIRD  BATH  COMMEMORATING  THE  "BIRD 

MASQUE" 230 

Designed  by  Mrs.  Louis  Saint-Gaudens 

DUCKS  DYING  OF  STARVATION  ON  LONG  ISLAND    .     240 

From  a  photograph  by  Wilbur  Smith 

A  SWAN  THAT  WAS  CARRIED  OVER  THE  FALLS        .     240 

From  a  photograph  by  James  Savage 


xviii  Illustrations 


FACING 
PAGE 


ST.  CATHERINE'S  LIGHT-HOUSE,  ISLE  OF  WIGHT, 

SHOWING  BIRD-RESTS          ....     256 
Courtesy  of  Our  Dumb  Animals 

SOME  JUNIOR  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CORN-FIELD  BIRD 

CLUB  OF  CORNISH      .         .         .         .         .270 

"  RAISING  THE  MARTIN  HOUSE  "  FOR  THE  CHARLES- 
TOWN  BIRD  CLUB        .....     270 

From  a  photograph  by  Walter  Buswell 

TRAMPLING  SNOW  TO  MAKE  A  FEEDING  STATION*   .     280 
CITIZENS  OF  MERIDEN  GIVING  THE  BIRDS  A  DAY'S 

WORK*       .......     280 

THE  RIGHT  KIND  OF  FEATHERS  FOR  A  HAT*          .     290 

*From  a  photograph  by  the  author 


WILD  BIRD  GUESTS 


Wild   Bird   Guests 


CHAPTER  I 

AN    INTRODUCTION    TO    SOME    WINTER    GUESTS 

IF  on  some  winter  day  you  were  to  alight  from 
"Ike"  Bonner's  stage  and  approach  one  of  the 
neat-looking  cottages  on  the  main  street  of 
Meriden,  New  Hampshire,  it  is  more  than  likely 
that  you  would  be  greeted  by  the  alighting  of 
a  wild  bird  upon  your  shoulder.  And  probably 
you  would  think  that  the  bird  had  simply  made 
a  mistake,  until  another  one  alighted  on  your  hat 
and  peeped  at  you  over  the  brim.  Then,  if  you 
asked  the  meaning  of  this  familiarity,  you  would 
be  told  that  you  were  in  "The  Bird  Village" 
where  birds  are  treated  as  honored  guests  from 
one  year's  end  to  another;  where  they  are 
provided  with  food  and  lodging  and  where  they 
are  protected  from  their  enemies.  And  you 
would  hear  of  all  sorts  of  interesting  and  delight- 


2  Wild  Bird  Guests 

ful  experiences  which  some  of  the  people  have 
had  with  birds  which  have  become  so  fearless 
that  they  will  sometimes  permit  one  to  pick  them 
up.  And  if  you  were  to  express  doubt  that  such 
experiences  would  ever  come  to  you,  you  would 
learn  that  there  is  no  mystery  about  it;  that  it  is 
simply  a  matter  of  being  very  quiet  and  gentle 
with  your  feathered  guests;  of  being  patient 
with  them,  and  of  using  a  little  thought  and 
ingenuity  for  their  comfort  and  welfare.  Meri- 
den  people  have  done  these  things  and  they 
have  been  rewarded  by  having  seven  species  of 
our  winter  birds  come  to  their  hands  for  food. 
Pine  grosbeaks,  white-winged  crossbills,  red- 
polls, pine  siskins,  white-breasted  nuthatches, 
red-breasted  nuthatches  and  chickadees  have 
thus  shown  their  appreciation  of  what  the  people 
of  this  little  New  England  village  have  done  for 
them.  Perhaps  no  other  place  of  equal  size  in 
this  country  has  thus  been  honored.  Every 
year  for  several  years  our  people  have  had  some 
memorable  experience  with  birds. 

For  example,  one  severe  winter  when  the  pine 
grosbeaks  came  down  from  the  north  in  great 
numbers,  we  fed  hundreds  of  them  in  the  gardens 
of  Meriden,  and  not  only  the  writer  but  several 
other  bird-lovers  fed  them  as  they  sat  on  hand  or 
shoulder.  They  were  so  tame  that  one  could  sit 


Some  Winter  Guests  3 

down  in  the  middle  of  a  flock,  and  the  birds 
would  come  into  one's  lap  to  feed.  They  would 
alight  upon  the  heads  of  children  watching  them, 
and  sometimes  they  allowed  us  to  pick  them  up 
one  in  each  hand. 

Another  winter  the  crossbills  visited  us. 
A  few,  six  or  eight,  had  been  coming  most  of  the 
summer  to  the  garden  path.  Two  or  three  were 
American  and  the  rest  white-winged  crossbills. 
They  crept  about,  quiet  as  mice,  eating  some- 
thing, but  just  what  it  was  I  could  not  tell  until 
they  had  been  here  for  some  time.  Then  one 
day  after  watching  them  at  work  for  several 
minutes,  I  took  a  magnifying  glass  and  went 
down  on  my  knees  to  see  what  there  might  be 
there  to  attract  them.  I  found  that  they  had 
been  working  on  a  patch  of  clay,  the  surface 
of  which  they  had  carved  in  every  direction  with 
their  sharp  bills.  As  there  were  no  "chips"  I 
knew  that  these  must  have  been  eaten,  so  I 
tasted  the  clay  to  see  why  they  had  eaten  it.  It 
was  very  salty,  the  result  of  scattering  salt  on 
the  path  to  kill  the  weeds.  A  few  days  later  our 
friend,  Frederic  H.  Kennard,  came  to  see  us, 
and  observing  the  crossbills,  ran  into  the  house 
for  some  salt,  of  which  he  had  often  observed 
their  fondness.  The  flock  continued  to  grow 
until  midwinter,  when  it  numbered  about  a 


4  Wild  Bird  Guests 

hundred  and  twenty-five.  We  went  out  to  play 
with  them  for  a  while  almost  every  day,  and 
by  and  by  they  seemed  to  look  for  our  coming. 
We  would  sit  on  the  well-trampled  snow  we  had 
prepared  for  their  feeding  ground,  and  from  the 
trees  about  us  they  would  come  down  in  a  musi- 
cal shower,  to  alight  upon  our  heads  and  shoul- 
ders and  to  feed  from  our  hands.  It  was  such 
fun  that  sometimes  even  when  the  thermometer 
registered  from  ten  to  fifteen  degrees  below 
zero  we  would  sit  there  feeding  them,  photo- 
graphing them,  or  often  simply  watching  them, 
until  we  were  almost  too  numb  to  get  up. 

Sometimes  in  winter  the  redpolls  come  to 
Meriden  in  flocks  aggregating  many  hundreds, 
and  there  are  usually  a  number  of  pine  siskins 
among  them.  At  such  times  the  streets  of  the 
village  are  alive  with  birds,  and  their  cheerful 
twitterings  make  it  seem  as  though  spring  had 
come  back  several  weeks  in  advance.  These 
little  birds  alight  in  the  dooryards  and  swarm 
over  the  piazzas  like  flies  on  a  sugar  bowl,  and 
they  will  feed  from  the  hands  of  anyone  who  has 
the  patience  to  stand  still  in  the  snow  for  a  little 
while.  I  have  sat  down  among  them,  and  had 
both  species  not  only  take  food  from  my  hand 
but  treat  me  very  much  as  they  would  a  bush  or 
a  stump. 


Some  Winter  Guests^  5 

Neither  of  the  nuthatches  has  ever  con- 
descended to  alight  upon  me,  but  a  red-breasted 
nuthatch  once  allowed  me  to  stroke  him  with  a 
forefinger  as  he  was  feeding  on  suet,  and  neigh- 
bors of  ours  entertained  one  which  used  to  come 
to  their  hands  almost  every  day  for  months.  I 
have  almost  touched  a  downy  woodpecker,  but 
not  quite.  He  was  feeding  on  a  food  tree  at 
Meriden,  and  showed  no  fear  when  I  walked 
up  until  my  face  was  within  eight  inches  of  him. 
My  enemies  say  that  this  marks  the  limit  of 
courage  in  any  wild  bird,  and  that  that  wood- 
pecker should  have  been  awarded  a  medal  for 
bravery. 

But  as  a  rule  the  chickadees  are  the  tamest  of 
all ;  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  confidence 
which  these  little  fellows  will  have  in  you  if  you 
give  them  a  little  encouragement.  At  my  home 
they  know  us  so  well  that  if  they  don't  see  what 
they  want  they  practically  ask  us  for  it.  Some- 
times before  we  are  up  in  the  morning  they  will 
sit  in  a  row  on  the  bedroom  window-sill  and 
hammer  on  the  glass  with  their  bills.  We  open 
the  window  and  in  they  come.  Like  as  not  they 
will  find  some  broken  nuts  on  the  dressing-table; 
if  so,  they  may  eat  them  there  or  they  may  fly 
out  into  the  garden  with  them.  One  morning 
we  invited  them  to  breakfast.  We  set  the 


6  Wild  Bird  Guests 

breakfast  table  close  to  an  open  window  and 
sprinkled  broken  nuts  upon  the  cloth.  In  came 
the  chickadees,  picked  up  the  nuts,  and  flew 
out  into  the  garden  with  them.  To  teach  them 
better  manners  we  swept  up  the  small  pieces  of 
nut  and  stitched  each  large  piece  to  the  table- 
cloth; after  that  the  chickadees  stayed  right 
on  the  table  and  took  breakfast  with  us. 

One  day,  when  we  were  living  at  Stoneham, 
Massachusetts,  I  saw  a  flock  of  these  little  birds 
in  a  tree,  and  I  thought  I  would  see  how  tame 
I  could  make  them.  I  held  out  a  handful 
of  broken  nuts  and  gave  an  imitation  of  the 
"phcebe"  note  of  the  chickadee.  One  little 
fellow  flew  down  to  my  hand,  picked  up  a  piece 
of  nut,  and  flew  away.  I  called  to  Mrs.  Baynes 
to  bring  a  camera,  and  when  I  saw  another  bird 
coming,  instead  of  holding  the  loose  nuts  in  the 
palm  of  my  hand  as  before,  I  held  a  single  piece 
tight  between  my  thumb  and  forefinger.  Down 
came  the  chickadee,  and  finding  that  he  could 
not  fly  away  with  the  nut,  he  sat  there  for  several 
minutes  and  ate  it.  That  seemed  pretty  good  for 
a  first  attempt,  but  I  thought  I  would  test  him 
further.  I  placed  a  piece  of  nut  between  my 
lips  and  held  up  my  forefinger  as  a  perch  for  him. 
He  needed  no  second  invitation,  but  alighted  on 
the  finger  and  helped  himself.  It  didn't  seem 


Some  Winter  Guests  7 

possible  that  a  bird  could  show  much  more 
confidence  than  that,  but  I  thought  I'd  put  him 
to  still  another  test.  Leaving  the  nut  just  where 
it  was,  I  calmly  folded  my  hands  behind  my  back 
leaving  him  no  perch  at  all.  It  didn't  feaze  him 
one  bit,  for  the  next  moment  he  alighted  on  my 
lip  and  helped  himself  to  the  nut  as  though  he 
had  been  used  to  feeding  in  this  way  all  his  life. 

When  we  came  to  New  Hampshire  we  found 
the  chickadees  just  as  friendly.  A  flock  made 
our  house  its  headquarters  and  the  first  time  that 
Mrs.  Baynes  went  out  to  feed  them  she  succeeded 
in  getting  five  of  them  to  alight  upon  her  at  once. 
She  used  English  walnuts  and  a  little  patience. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  in  the  garden  with  a 
rifle  practising  at  a  mark,  when  a  chickadee 
alighted  on  the  front  sight,  tipped  over  and 
deliberately  looked  down  the  barrel,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "I  wonder  what  there  is  in  that/' 
Sometimes  when  I  am  in  the  woods,  far  from  the 
house,  the  chickadees  will  come  to  me.  I  re- 
member one  bitter  winter  day  I  was  sitting  in  the 
snow  having  my  lunch,  and  the  chickadees 
swarmed  about  me,  alighting  on  my  cap,  my 
shoulders,  and  my  snowshoes,  which  I  had  taken 
off  and  stuck  in  the  snow.  I  pulled  a  sandwich 
from  my  pocket  and  as  I  put  it  to  my  lips,  a 
chickadee  came  down  out  of  a  tree  overhead, 


8  Wild  Bird  Guests 

alighted  on  the  other  end  of  the  sandwich  and 
helped  me  to  eat  it.  When  we  go  out  in  winter, 
the  chickadees  often  come  down  like  so  many 
little  highwaymen  and  literally  "hold  us  up" 
for  nuts  and  other  things  we  are  likely  to  have  in 
our  pockets  for  them.  I  once  had  a  chickadee 
sit  on  my  hand  eating  nuts  until  he  simply 
couldn't  hold  any  more.  He  looked  absolutely 
comfortable  and  I  half  expected  to  hear  a  sigh 
of  contentment.  I  cupped  my  other  hand  and 
put  it  over  him,  until  his  head  alone  was  visible 
in  the  circle  of  my  thumb  and  forefinger,  and 
perhaps  made  drowsy  by  the  warmth,  he  closed 
his  eyes  and  tucked  his  head  beneath  his  wing. 
And  it  is  not  only  in  winter  that  the  chickadees 
are  with  us;  they  nest  about  the  place,  and  come 
to  our  hands,  though  not  as  frequently,  in  the 
spring,  summer,  and  fall.  Not  long  ago  a  pair 
of  chickadees  nested  in  our  orchard,  and  gave 
their  nestlings  an  occasional  meal  of  suet  from  a 
stump  near  the  house.  If  we  were  photograph- 
ing nearby,  the  parent  birds  would  come  to  our 
hands  or  alight  upon  the  camera  or  tripod. 
When  the  young  ones  left  the  nest  they  were 
quite  fearless  and  allowed  us  to  approach  and 
stroke  them,  and  when  Mrs.  Baynes  placed  a 
youngster  on  her  outstretched  hand,  one  of  the 
parents  came,  and  poising,  humming-bird  fash- 


Some  Winter  Guests  9 

ion  in  the  air  beside  it,  passed  insects  into  its 
mouth. 

One  day  last  spring  I  was  delighted  on  return- 
ing from  a  lecture  tour  of  several  months  dura- 
tion, to  be  met  in  the  lane,  half  a  mile  from  my 
home,  by  a  band  of  chickadees  and  escorted  to 
the  house  by  my  little  friends,  first  one  and  then 
another  of  whom  would  fly  to  my  hands  or 
shoulders. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    BIRDS    BY    THE    ELEMENTS 
AND    BY   DISEASE 

BIRDS  seldom  tell  us  of  their  troubles.  To  be 
sure,  when  their  homes  are  in  danger,  or  when 
their  little  ones  are  killed  or  carried  off,  some 
parent  birds  let  us  know  by  their  frantic  cries, 
how  real  and  bitter  is  their  grief.  And  of  course 
hungry  nestlings  often  clamor  for  food.  But 
usually,  full-grown  birds,  like  thoroughbred 
people,  take  their  troubles,  their  dangers,  and 
even  death  itself,  with  quiet  courage  and  without 
any  fuss.  If  they  didn't  I'm  afraid  their  sym- 
pathetic human  neighbors  would  get  little  rest, 
for  they  are  beset  by  so  many  dangers  and  face 
death  in  so  many  forms  that  I  sometimes  wonder 
how  any  of  them  manage  to  escape.  Of  these 
dangers,  the  elements  are  among  the  worst  and 
least  controlable.  Storms  often  kill  thousands 
of  birds  in  a  few  hours.  The  small  birds,  which 
during  migration,  cross  large  bodies  of  open 
water,  are  perhaps  the  ones  most  likely  to  perish 


10 


Destruction  by  Elements  and  Disease    1 1 

in  great  numbers  from  this  cause.  Flocks  of 
warblers  winging  their  way  across  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  or  one  of  the  Great  Lakes,  are  some- 
times overtaken  by  heavy  storms  which  result 
in  their  wholesale  destruction.  Plucky  as  they 
are,  their  tiny  muscles  are  no  match  for  the 
mighty  winds  which  sweep  the  water,  and  they 
are  beaten  backward  and  downward,  with  no 
spot  on  which  to  rest  even  for  a  moment.  Even 
in  such  dark  hours,  their  courage  asserts  itself; 
they  do  not  give  up,  but  battle  still  with  their 
giant  foe,  which  hurls  them  far  from  their  course. 
Then  perhaps  comes  a  cold  and  driving  rain, 
which  soaks  their  plumage  and  increases  the 
burden  already  too  great  for  the  weary  muscles. 
Down  they  go  toward  the  roaring  water  beneath 
them,  until  they  are  met  by  the  leaping  waves, 
which  lick  them  into  the  deep,  where  the  last 
spark  of  their  dauntless  courage  is  quenched  in 
death.  Next  morning  their  tiny,  bright-colored 
bodies  may  be  found  strewn  for  miles  along  the 
coast,  among  the  shells  and  pebbles  of  the  beach. 
The  cold  storms  of  late  spring,  which  come 
after  many  of  the  migrants  have  arrived,  some- 
times kill  nearly  all  the  birds  of  certain  species 
over  a  wide  area  of  country.  Insect-eating  birds 
suffer  most  as  a  rule  from  these  storms,  because 
the  insects  are  driven  to  cover  and  are  hard 


12  Wild  Bird  Guests 

to  get  in  sufficient  numbers  to  maintain  life. 
Every  now  and  then  there  comes  a  spring  so 
cold  and  stormy  that  bluebirds  perish  in  great 
numbers  and  a  great  scarcity  of  these  birds  is 
observed  the  following  year.  More  rarely  the 
destruction  is  so  widespread  that  several  years 
pass  before  bluebirds  are  seen  again  in  their 
usual  numbers.  In  The  Auk  for  October,  1907, 
Dr.  Thomas  S.  Roberts  of  the  Minnesota 
Natural  History  Survey,  tells  of  a  snowstorm 
which  occurred  in  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  in 
March,  1904,  when  not  far  from  a  million  and  a 
half  Lapland  longspurs  perished  in  a  single  night. 
But  the  birds  which  suffer  most  frequently,  and 
as  a  rule  most  severely  from  these  untimely 
storms,  are  those  which  capture  their  insect  prey 
almost  entirely  on  the  wing — such  birds  as  swifts 
and  swallows.  The  snow  or  cold  rain  having 
swept  the  air  practically  clear  of  insect  life, 
such  birds  quickly  starve  to  death.  Purple 
martins,  perhaps  because  they  are  larger  than 
the  other  swallows  and  hence  require  more  food, 
often  suffer  very  severely.  For  example,  so 
many  purple  martins  were  destroyed  by  storms 
in  the  springs  of  1903  and  1904  that  there  were 
hardly  any  of  these  beautiful  birds  to  be  found 
in  Massachusetts  and  they  were  scarce  all  over 
New  England. 


Destruction  by  Elements  and  Disease    13 

Even  birds  as  hardy  and  omnivorous  as  the 
robin  have  a  hard  time  in  the  late  snowstorms. 
Here  in  New  Hampshire,  robins  are  often  driven 
to  eat  the  decayed  apples  which  have  hung 
frozen  to  the  trees  all  winter,  and  in  some  cases 
they  eat  so  much  of  this  fermenting  fruit  that 
they  become  intoxicated. 

Bad  storms  occurring  in  the  nesting  season 
cause  great  havoc  among  young  birds.  The 
wind  breaks  down  branches  and  sometimes  whole 
trees  containing  the  nests,  and  often  the  nests 
themselves  are  blown  to  the  ground.  Con- 
tinuous heavy  rain  chills  and  kills  the  nestlings 
in  spite  of  the  best  efforts  of  the  parents  to  shield 
their  little  ones.  One  pouring  wet  June  day  I 
found  a  phoebe's  nest  on  the  side  of  a  cliff  in 
Massachusetts.  The  cold  water  from  the  rock 
above  was  dripping  into  it  and  the  five  young 
birds  were  already  dead.  Only  last  spring  a 
pair  of  chipping  sparrows  had  a  nest  in  a  little 
bush  close  to  my  front  door  and  all  the  young 
ones  were  killed  by  a  cold  wet  storm.  The  brave 
little  mother  did  her  very  best  to  shelter  them, 
and  long  after  they  were  dead  she  continued  to 
sit  on  the  nest  to  cover  them  with  her  wet  and 
bedraggled  wings. 

Floods  occurring  during  the  nesting  season  are 
sometimes  very  destructive  to  birds  which  nest 


14  Wild  Bird  Guests 

on  the  ground.  Some  years  ago  at  Stamford, 
Connecticut,  I  had  under  observation  several 
nests  of  song  sparrows  and  other  birds  in  a  low- 
lying  meadow.  I  went  down  there  one  morning 
after  several  days  of  heavy  rain,  and  found  the 
meadow,  nests  and  all,  under  water.  Some 
of  the  nests  had  contained  newly  hatched  young 
and  the  parents  were  still  flitting  about  among 
the  bushes  nearby,  calling  incessantly. 

More  dramatic,  if  much  less  serious,  is  the 
destruction  wrought  by  the  great  waterfalls 
which  every  year  take  their  toll  of  aquatic  birds. 
Every  spring  many  birds,  chiefly  ducks,  geese, 
and  swans  go  over  the  Horse-Shoe  Falls  at 
Niagara.  Some  of  these  are  killed  outright, 
but  many  of  them  are  only  stunned  and  might 
easily  be  saved.  In  1912  one  hundred  and  forty 
whistling  swans  went  over  the  falls  in  this  way, 
and  were  fished  out  by  boys  and  men,  knocked 
on  the  head  and  sold  for  food  to  people  in  Ni- 
agara Falls.  Most  of  the  birds  were  secured  by 
a  young  man  employed  at  the  Maid  of  the  Mist 
landing,  who,  living  in  a  little  house  close  to  the 
water,  was  always  on  the  watch.  With  Mr.  James 
Savage  of  Buffalo  I  went  to  see  this  young  man 
the  following  spring  and  he  told  us  that  the  birds 
almost  always  came  over  at  night.  Far  above  the 
falls  the  water  is  smooth  and  here  the  birds 


Destruction  by  Elements  and  Disease    15 

alight.  Apparently  they  are  carried  down  into 
the  swift  water  when  asleep  and  then  it  is  evi- 
dently impossible  for  them  to  save  themselves. 
The  young  man  told  us  that  once  he  captured  a 
swan  that  was  only  stunned  and  that  he  tied  a 
fishing  line  to  its  leg  and  kept  it  in  a  little  pond 
made  by  an  eddy  of  the  river.  The  bird  became 
very  tame  and  would  take  food  from  his  hand, 
but  one  day  took  alarm  at  a  company  of  soldiers, 
flew  into  the  air,  and  snapping  the  fishing  line 
as  though  it  had  been  a  thread,  flew  away  down 
the  river. 

Mr.  Savage  with  some  friends  once  saved  a 
flock  of  swans  by  chasing  them  in  a  power  boat 
and  making  them  fly  away  just  before  nightfall. 
It  was  a  daring  thing  for  these  men  to  do,  for  if 
by  any  chance  the  engine  had  become  disabled 
nothing  could  have  prevented  their  going  over 
the  falls. 

Severe  winters  destroy  great  numbers  of  birds, 
which  perish  chiefly  for  lack  of  food.  It  seems 
that  most  birds  can  stand  cold  weather  if  only 
they  can  get  food  enough.  A  bird's  body  may  be 
likened  to  a  little  furnace  in  which  food  takes 
the  place  of  coal  or  wood.  As  long  as  there  is 
plenty  of  fuel  in  the  furnace  it  remains  warm  no 
matter  how  cold  the  weather  may  be;  but  when 
there  is  no  fuel  to  be  had  the  fire  dies  out  and 


16  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  bird  with  it.  I  once  kept  a  turkey  vulture 
in  my  garden  in  Massachusetts  and  though  he  is 
naturally  a  bird  of  a  warmer  clime,  he  remained 
in  perfect  health  through  the  very  severe  winter 
of  1903-1904,  simply  because  I  kept  him  well 
supplied  with  food.  That  same  winter  the 
hardy  native  birds  died  in  great  numbers  be- 
cause they  could  not  get  food — could  not  get 
the  fuel  to  keep  the  little  furnaces  going.  Ac- 
cording to  the  State  Ornithologist,  Edward  Howe 
Forbush,  between  ninety  and  ninety-five  out  of 
every  one  hundred  quail  in  Massachusetts  died 
of  starvation  that  winter.  Similar  tragedies  oc- 
cur every  severe  winter,  and  if  we  do  a  little 
thinking  we  find  that  there  is  no  mystery  about 
it.  When  the  trees  and  bushes  are  sheathed  in 
ice  it  must  be  very  difficult  and  at  times  impos- 
sible for  the  insect-eating  birds  such  as  wood- 
peckers, nuthatches,  chickadees  and  creepers,  to 
get  at  the  insects  and  larvae  which  lurk  in  and 
below  the  bark  and  in  the  axils  of  the  twigs. 
And  when  the  ground  is  covered  under  a  foot  or 
more  of  snow,  how  can  such  birds  as  sparrows 
and  finches  and  quail  and  other  seed-eaters  dig 
down  under  it  to  get  at  their  food  ?  Of  course 
some  birds  find  weed-stalks  sticking  out  above 
the  snow  and  others  perhaps  switch  off  onto  a 
diet  of  berries,  but  there  are  many  others  who 


At  M/  t/vad      rm  ojjan  wtifm 


\ 


Destruction  by  Elements  and  Disease    17 

fail  to  find  enough  to  support  life  and  these  of 
course  starve  to  death. 

We  cannot  control  the  elements,  but  we  can  at 
times,  by  offerings  of  food  and  shelter  help  the 
birds  in  their  battle  against  the  cold  and  the 
storms,  and  this  matter  will  be  taken  up  in  detail 
in  a  later  chapter. 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIRDS  BY  DISEASE 

That  wild  birds  sometimes  become  ill  is  a 
fact  not  very  generally  thought  of  perhaps,  and 
comparatively  few  of  us  have  ever  seen  a  sick 
bird  in  its  native  haunts.  Yet  birds  are  some- 
times attacked  by  epidemics  which  work  as 
much  destruction  among  them  as  cholera  or 
the  bubonic  plague  works  among  human  beings. 
Such  an  epidemic  has  recently  been  playing 
havoc  with  the  waterfowl  and  marsh  birds  of 
Utah.  In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  Mr.  Fred.  W. 
Chambers,  State  Commissioner  of  Fish  and 
Game,  says: 

"  Since  1910  we  have  had  an  epidemic  among 
the  marsh  birds  of  Utah,  especially  the  ducks, 
though  the  snipe  family  has  suffered  consider- 
ably. We  collected  and  buried  in  quicklime 
over  a  million  birds  in  the  year  1910,  and  each 
year  thereafter  until  the  present  time,  not  in- 


18  Wild  Bird  Guests 

eluding  1914,  we  have  buried  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  five  hundred  thousand  birds,  making  a 
total  of  two  and  a  half  millions  of  birds  that 
have  been  destoyed  by  this  epidemic.  We  have 
worked  constantly  to  find  out  the  real  cause  of 
the  epidemic,  but  as  yet  have  not  been  able  to 
say  just  what  it  is. " 

A  considerable  number  of  wild  birds  as  well 
as  domesticated  ones  are  troubled  with  a  parasite 
known  by  the  formidable  name  of  Coccidiosis, 
and  which  in  some  species  causes  a  dangerous 
disease  of  the  intestines.  Professor  Philip  B. 
Hadley  of  the  Biological  Laboratory  at  King- 
ston, Rhode  Island,  who  has  been  studying  this 
parasite,  has  found  it  in  European  sparrows,  field 
sparrows,  white-throated  sparrows,  j  uncos,  rob- 
ins, and  hermit  thrushes.  He  also  found  that 
seemingly  the  parasite  can  be  transmitted  from 
European  sparrows  to  domestic  poultry.  Pro- 
fessor Hadley  considers  that  the  spreading  of  this 
disease  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another 
by  means  of  these  birds  and  especially  by  the 
European  sparrow  is  not  only  a  menace  to  domes- 
tic poultry,  but  may  result  in  the  infection  and 
destruction  of  wild  game  birds.  This  would 
seem  to  be  another  reason  why  we  should  unite 
in  an  effort  to  reduce  the  number  of  European 
sparrows. 


Destruction  by  Elements  and  Disease    19 

Grouse,  quail,  and  others  are  known  to  suffer 
severely  from  disease  at  times,  and  this  fact 
presents  perhaps  the  most  serious  difficulty 
met  by  those  who  attempt  to  rear  these  birds 
in  captivity. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIRDS   BY  THEIR    NATURAL 
ENEMIES 

BY  the  natural  enemies  of  birds  is  here  meant 
those  wild  creatures  which  naturally  prey  more 
or  less  upon  birds.  These  include  wild  cats, 
wolves,  foxes,  bears,  raccoons,  weasels,  mink, 
skunks,  wolverines,  squirrels,  rats,  and  opossums 
among  our  mammals;  shrikes,  grackles,  crows, 
jays,  certain  owls  and  hawks,  and  occasionally 
other  species,  among  the  birds ;  snapping  turtles 
and  many  snakes  among  the  reptiles;  bullfrogs 
among  the  batrachians,  and  pike  and  possibly 
other  voracious  species  among  the  fishes.  There 
are  others  but  these  are  the  principal  ones  in  this 
country.  Animals  like  cats,  dogs,  and  pigs, 
which  have  been  domesticated  by  man,  and 
European  starlings  and  sparrows,  which  have 
been  imported  by  him,  are  not,  strictly  speaking 
natural  enemies  of  our  wild  birds  and  will  be 
treated  of  elsewhere. 

Some  of  the  bird  enemies  mentioned  above  do 

20 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       21 

a  great  deal  of  damage,  others  only  a  little,  and 
some  so  offset  their  own  evil  deeds  by  keeping 
other  bird  enemies  in  check  that  it  is  hard  to 
decide  whether  we  should  class  them  as  friends 
or  foes. 

Probably  all  our  wild  cats,  including  mountain 
lions,  kill  some  birds  if  good  opportunity  offers, 
and  when  wild  turkeys  and  grouse  were  abundant 
they  probably  took  their  share.  Audubon  once 
saw  a  bob  cat  capture  a  wild  turkey  and  on 
another  occasion  watched  one  pounce  upon  a 
partridge  in  a  covey  which  it  had  been  carefully 
stalking.  He  also  states  that  grouse  and  other 
birds  form  part  of  the  food  of  the  Canada  lynx. 
But  these  powerful  cats  prey  upon  so  many 
four-footed  creatures,  such  as  squirrels,  rabbits, 
and  even  deer  and  mountain  sheep,  that  it  is 
doubtful  if  they  would  be  a  serious  menace  to 
bird  life  even  if  they  were  much  more  numerous 
than  they  are. 

The  damage  done  to  birds  by  wolves  is  prob- 
ably slight,  owing  to  the  fact  that  wolves 
prey  chiefly  upon  other  creatures.  But  we  may 
be  sure  that  no  bird  or  nest  of  birds  discovered 
by  a  wolf  is  permitted  to  escape  if  he  can  help  it. 
Both  timber  wolves  and  coyotes  have  been 
known  to  kill  domestic  poultry.  A  tame  coyote 
I  once  had  at  my  home  used  to  kill  wounded 


22  Wild  Bird  Guests 

birds  whenever  he  saw  them  and  once  killed  and 
partly  ate  a  turkey  gobbler  weighing  nearly 
twenty-five  pounds. 

There  is  plenty  of  evidence  to  show  that  foxes 
are  often  destructive  to  bird  life.  It  is  easiest  to 
get  such  evidence  in  the  spring,  when  there  are 
large  families  of  hungry  young  foxes  to  be  fed. 
At  the  mouth  of  a  fox  den  at  this  season  one  may 
often  see  feathers,  bones,  and  other  remains  of 
grouse,  quail,  and  poultry.  I  once  saw  a  fox 
shot  just  as  she  was  about  to  enter  her  den  with  a 
grouse  in  her  mouth.  Foxes  are  wonderfully 
alert,  sharp  of  ear,  keen  of  sight  and  scent,  quick 
on  their  feet,  and  very  intelligent.  If  they  were 
good  climbers,  they  would  be  perhaps  the  worst 
enemies  the  birds  could  have.  Even  as  it  is 
they  capture  wild  birds  in  many  different  ways. 
Sometimes  they  stalk  them,  and  spring  upon 
them  as  a  cat  might  do,  and  a  fox  has  been  seen 
to  take  a  quick  run  and  a  tremendous  leap  and 
catch  a  small  bird  on  the  wing.  They  will  attack 
game  birds  on  the  nest,  and  their  habit  of  captur- 
ing grouse  which  have  been  spending  the  night 
under  the  snow,  has  long  been  known.  I  once 
saw  a  fox  barely  miss  capturing  a  grouse  as  it 
left  its  snowy  shelter.  Another  method  not  so 
widely  known,  but  which  is  apparently  adopted 
by  a  good  many  foxes  and  possibly  other  animals, 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       23 

consists  in  following  the  trail  of  persons  who 
ramble  in  the  woods  and  fields,  apparently  in  the 
hope  that  they  will  lead  to  something  desirable. 
Foxes  are  naturally  curious,  and  have  long  been 
known  to  follow  people  seemingly  to  satisfy 
their  curiosity.  Now  and  then  a  fox  comes  upon 
the  track  of  someone  who  has  been  visiting  a 
bird's  nest,  and  following  it,  finds  that  it  leads 
to  a  meal  of  eggs  or  nestlings.  Ever  afterwards 
probably  that  fox  will  follow  the  trails  of  other 
human  beings  who  cross  his  path,  in  the  hope 
of  similar  pleasing  results.  So  closely  will  foxes 
follow  up  clews  of  this  kind  that  in  some  parts  of 
the  country  to  visit  the  nest  of  a  ground-building 
bird  is  said  to  doom  it  to  destruction.  Per- 
sonally I  try  to  avoid  going  close  to  such  a  nest 
except  when  really  necessary,  for  I  greatly  dis- 
like to  add  to  the  many  dangers  which  already 
surround  the  little  home. 

But  foxes  have  many  good  points,  which  we 
sometimes  overlook  when  speaking  of  their  evil 
deeds.  They  eat  great  numbers  of  wild  mice, 
so  destructive  to  the  crops  and  young  trees,  and 
possibly  to  birds  as  well.  I  have  watched  them 
for  hours  when  they  did  nothing  but  catch 
grasshoppers,  and  it  is  well  known  that  at  certain 
times  and  places  the  much-hated  woodchuck 
forms  a  considerable  part  of  the  fox's  diet.  Not 


24  Wild  Bird  Guests 

long  ago  I  surprised  a  fox  as  he  was  eating  a 
very  large  woodchuck.  When  he  saw  me  he  ran 
off  with  his  prey,  but  I  shouted  at  him  and  he 
dropped  it.  He  had  probably  killed  it  the  day 
before,  eaten  a  part  of  it,  and  buried  the  rest, 
for  it  was  rigid  and  had  evidently  just  been 
taken  from  the  ground. 

Bears  in  the  United  States  probably  harm  the 
birds  very  little;  they  are  usually  too  slow  of 
movement  to  capture  anything  that  can  fly, 
and  the  damage  they  do  in  this  direction  is 
probably  limited  to  the  devouring  of  eggs  in 
nests  which  they  happen  to  stumble  upon. 
That  at  certain  times  and  places  bears  may 
menace  a  colony  of  birds  is  pointed  out  by  Dr. 
Charles  H.  Townsend  who  has  kindly  called  my 
attention  to  Captain  Cartwright's  Journal  of 
June  18,  1777,  where  it<is  recorded  that  polar 
bears  were  killed  and  their  stomachs  found  to  be 
filled  with  the  eggs  of  eider  ducks. 

Raccoons  eat  a  wide  variety  of  food,  of  which 
in  most  places  young  birds  and  birds'  eggs  prob- 
ably constitute  only  a  small  part.  I  doubt  if 
they  often  capture  full-grown  wild  birds.  Water- 
fowl sitting  on  their  nests  may  suffer  in  certain 
localities,  and  perhaps  raccoons  occasionally 
capture  birds  on  their  roosts  at  night.  Com- 
paratively slow-moving  creatures,  fond  of  fruit, 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       25 

ripe  corn,  insects,  crawfish,  frogs,  wild  mice,  and 
domestic  poultry,  they  would  as  a  rule  be  likely 
to  destroy  wild  birds'  nests  only  when  they 
happened  accidentally  to  find  them.  I  once  had 
two  raccoons  in  a  large  pen  in  which  I  had 
placed  a  tree  for  them  to  climb.  One  morning, 
having  a  live  crow  and  no  special  place  for  him, 
I  put  him  in  the  pen  with  the  raccoons.  He  flew 
about,  made  himself  at  home,  and  his  hosts  seem- 
ed barely  interested  in  him.  Ten  minutes  after 
dark  I  went  to  see  if  everything  was  all  right  and 
found  nothing  left  of  the  crow  but  his  feathers. 
A  raccoon  had  probably  climbed  the  tree  after 
the  bird  had  gone  to  roost,  and  either  captured 
him  where  he  slept  or  caused  him  to  blunder  to 
the  ground  in  the  dark. 

Practically  all  members  of  the  weasel  tribe, 
including  skunks  and  mink,  are  enemies  of  birds ; 
most  of  them  will  eat  the  young  and  sometimes 
the  eggs.  Weasels  are  probably  very  destructive 
to  birds,  since  they  are  extremely  active  and 
fearless,  wonderful  climbers  and  in  the  wild 
state  almost  wholly  carnivorous.  Moreover, 
they  seem  to  kill  for  the  love  of  killing,  whether 
they  are  hungry  or  not,  a  fact  testified  to 
by  many  a  farmer  whose  poultry  yard  has 
been  visited  by  these  blood-thirsty  creatures. 
Weasels  hunt  by  scent  like  hounds,  and  cover 


26  Wild  Bird  Guests 

great  distances  in  a  day,  as  anyone  can  prove 
for  himself  if  he  will  try  to  follow  the  trail  of  one 
through  the  snow.  To  a  certain  extent,  however, 
they  are  the  friends  of  wild  birds  since  they  often 
kill  other  creatures,  such  as  mice,  rats,  and 
squirrels  which  are  also  enemies  of  birds.  A 
lady  in  Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  tells  me  that 
she  once  saw  a  weasel  chase  and  capture  a 
chipmunk  in  an  oak  tree  near  her  house  and 
then  leap  some  ten  feet  to  the  ground  with  the 
victim  in  its  mouth. 

A  year  or  two  ago  the  old  farmhouse  in  which 
we  are  living  had  become  infested  with  rats, 
when  one  autumn  morning  a  white  weasel  or 
ermine  appeared  in  the  woodshed.  For  a  day 
or  two  after  that  there  was  a  terrible  commotion 
in  the  walls  and  ceilings,  as  the  weasel  chased  his 
squeaking  prey  from  one  stronghold  to  another 
to  finally  kill  them  after  a  last  desperate  scuffle. 
Then,  when  all  the  rats  had  been  killed  or  driven 
away,  the  weasel  came  into  the  house  and  made 
himself  at  home.  Mrs.  Baynes  was  kind  to  him 
and  he  soon  became  tame,  taking  food  from  her 
hand  and  coming  up  into  her  lap  to  drink  milk 
from  a  saucer.  He  stayed  until  spring,  when 
he  left  the  house  never  to  return.  In  spite  of  the 
good  services  they  perform,  however,  I  should 
not  consider  weasels  desirable  neighbors  for  one 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies      27 

who  was  trying  to  attract  birds  to  the  home 
grounds. 

Mink  and  skunks  are  probably  much  less 
destructive  to  bird  life.  In  the  first  place  neither 
of  them  climbs  to  any  extent  and  their  diet  is 
more  varied.  The  mink  operates  chiefly  along 
streams  and  feeds  very  largely  on  fish,  frogs,  and 
other  aquatic  creatures.  Nevertheless,  Audu- 
bon  states  that  in  his  day  the  mink  in  the  salt 
marshes  of  the  south  lived  chiefly  on  marsh 
hens  and  sharp-tailed  finches,  which  they  cap- 
tured by  springing  upon  them  as  a  cat  would 
do.  It  is  also  known  that  they  kill  young  wild 
ducks,  and  Mr.  William  Brewster  reports  the 
destruction  of  a  colony  of  bank  swallows  by 
mink. 

Skunks  are  much  slower  in  their  movements 
than  their  cousins  the  weasels,  and  probably 
do  much  less  harm  to  the  birds.  They  seldom 
attempt  to  climb  and  on  the  ground  they  are 
neither  clever  enough  to  stalk  a  bird  nor  quick 
enough  to  run  out  and  catch  one.  What 
damage  they  do  is  chiefly  confined  to  the  eggs 
and  young  of  birds  which  nest  on  the  ground. 
Even  so,  I  should  not  regard  the  skunk  as  a 
desirable  tenant  in  a  bird  preserve. 

Wolverines,  like  bears,  probably  destroy  such 
nests  as  they  accidentally  find,  but  these  animals 


28  Wild  Bird  Guests 

are  not  numerous  enough  to  constitute  a  serious 
danger  to  bird  life. 

Red  squirrels  are  persistent  robbers  of  the 
nests  of  small  birds,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  this 
is  disputed  by  certain  well-known  authorities. 
That  some  red  squirrels  do  not  have  the  nest- 
robbing  habit  is  quite  possible  if  not  probable, 
but  the  fact  remains  that  as  devourers  of  eggs 
and  young,  red  squirrels  have  few  if  any  equals. 
The  first  time  I  ever  saw  a  red  squirrel  interfere 
with  a  bird's  nest  was  many  years  ago.  I  was 
attracted  by  the  frantic  cries  of  a  pair  of  scarlet 
tanagers  which  had  a  nest  in  a  pine  tree  in  the 
garden.  I  rushed  out  to  see  what  the  matter  was 
and  discovered  a  red  squirrel  calmly  seated  on 
the  edge  of  the  tanager's  nest  and  eating  one  of 
the  eggs.  He  held  it  in  his  paws  as  he  would  a 
nut  and  he  was  losing  some  of  the  white  which 
trickled  from  his  jaws.  I  drove  him  away  but  he 
soon  returned  and  I  felt  obliged  to  shoot  him — 
the  first  creature  of  any  kind  which  I  had  shot 
in  fifteen  years.  Since  then  I  have  known  so 
many  nests  to  be  destroyed  by  red  squirrels  that 
I  will  not  allow  one  of  these  animals  in  my  gar- 
den or  in  any  other  place  where  I  am  trying  to  at- 
tract birds.  My  friend  Frederic  H.  Kennard, 
a  trained  ornithologist  and  a  careful  observer, 
has  many  times  seen  red  squirrels  destroy  the 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       29 

homes  of  birds.  Such  destruction  has  been 
seen  by  many  other  naturalists,  some  of  whom 
have  seen  red  squirrels  bite  off  the  heads  of  young 
birds  and  eat  out  the  brains  as  they  would  eat 
the  meat  out  of  a  nut. 

Gray  squirrels  as  a  rule  are  not  so  destructive, 
but  there  is  positive  proof  that  some  of  them  at 
least  destroy  birds'  nests,  and  when  they  become 
numerous  in  a  particular  locality  and  when  other 
food  becomes  scarce,  probably  they  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  eat  either  eggs  or  nestlings. 

Chipmunks  often  destroy  the  nests  of  birds 
which  build  on  or  near  the  ground  or  in  artificial 
arbors,  and  have  been  seen  carrying  off  young 
birds  in  their  mouths.  Usually  they  do  not 
climb  enough  to  disturb  birds  which  make  their 
homes  in  trees. 

Flying  squirrels  are  gentle  little  creatures 
which  probably  seldom  if  ever  destroy  eggs  or 
young  birds,  though  they  often  make  their  homes 
in  deserted  birds'  nests,  in  hollow  trees,  and  even 
in  nest  boxes. 

Muskrats  are  said  to  eat  the  eggs  of  birds 
nesting  near  water  and  in  the  marshes,  but 
though  I  have  lived  where  muskrats  were  plenti- 
ful, I  have  never  seen  any  evidence  of  it. 

That  common  rats  are  often  very  destructive 
to  the  eggs  and  young  of  domestic  poultry  is 


30  Wild  Bird  Guests 

well  known,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason 
to  believe  that  they  would  spare  any  young  wild 
birds  which  they  found  unprotected.  They  are 
excellent  climbers,  our  native  black  rat  being 
almost  the  equal  of  a  squirrel  in  this  respect. 

Whether  our  wild  mice  and  shrews  are  destruc- 
tive to  bird  life  or  not  is  a  question  on  which  we 
have  little  information.  They  are  all  more  or  less 
carnivorous,  and  white-footed  mice  at  least  are 
wonderful  climbers,  using  their  tails  as  well  as 
their  clever  little  feet.  The  dormouse  of  Europe 
is  known  to  be  destructive  to  birds,  and  it  would 
be  rather  strange  if  creatures  so  similar  in  other 
habits  were  entirely  guiltless  of  nest  robbing. 

Much  of  what  has  been  said  about  raccoons 
may  be  said  with  equal  truth  about  opossums. 
While  not  among  the  principal  enemies  of  birds, 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  they  destroy  practically  all 
nests  which  they  discover  in  their  daily  search 
for  food. 

Many  birds  prey  more  or  less  upon  other  birds, 
but  comparatively  few  seriously  reduce  the  bird 
population. 

Shrikes,  especially  northern  shrikes  in  winter 
are  sometimes  very  destructive  to  small  birds. 
Some  observers  state  that  shrikes  make  a 
specialty  of  killing  European  sparrows,  and  to 
whatever  extent  they  do  this  they  are  friends  of 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       31 

our  native  birds.  But  that  they  do  not  confine 
themselves  to  sparrows  there  is  plenty  of  evi- 
dence. In  the  village  of  Meriden,  New  Hamp- 
shire, where  we  make  special  efforts  to  attract 
birds  by  feeding  them  in  winter,  shrikes  cause 
us  a  lot  of  trouble.  One  winter  we  fed  great 
numbers  of  pine  grosbeaks.  They  are  naturally 
fearless  birds  and  became  very  tame  under 
kindly  treatment.  The  shrikes  were  so  bold 
that  they  would  attack  the  grosbeaks  under  our 
very  noses.  A  neighbor,  Mr.  Lewis  Stickney, 
who  fed  a  large  flock  of  birds,  saw  a  shrike  kill 
two  in  his  garden.  One  of  these  was  feeding 
on  the  window-sill  under  the  roof  of  the  piazza. 
Though  the  shrike  was  possibly  an  inch  and  a  half 
the  longer  of  the  two,  it  could  hardly  have  been 
so  heavy  as  the  plump,  well-fed  grosbeak,  yet 
the  butcher  bird  actually  carried  off  its  victim. 
After  carrying  it  for  a  few  feet  he  dropped  it  in 
the  snow,  picked  it  up,  dropped  it  again,  and 
then  perhaps  getting  a  firmer  grip,  carried  it 
for  fully  four  hundred  feet  before  disappearing. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  shoot  several  shrikes  in 
my  own  garden  where  they  come  for  the  chicka- 
dees and  other  small  birds  which  we  always 
have  in  numbers.  I  once  saw  a  shrike  pursue 
a  chickadee  from  point  to  point  in  the  bushes 
until  the  little  titmouse  lost  his  head  and  flew 


32  Wild  Bird  Guests 

out  over  the  open  country.  The  shrike  was 
after  him  instantly  and  quickly  overtook  him 
and  bore  him  to  the  earth.  And  it  is  very  appar- 
ent that  the  small  birds  know  their  enemy  and 
fear  him.  As  soon  as  he  is  seen,  the  pine  gros- 
beaks fly  up  in  alarm  and  scatter  to  the  four 
winds ;  but  when  some  chickadee  gives  the  fright- 
ened squawk  which  in  winter  usually  means  a 
shrike,  nearly  all  the  other  chickadees  "freeze" 
wherever  they  happen  to  be — in  a  food  house, 
the  window  box,  or  in  the  shrubbery.  And  they 
often  remain  rigid  for  as  much  as  five  minutes  or 
more,  allowing  us  to  go  close  up  and  photograph 
them  with  the  camera  only  a  few  inches  away. 

Crackles  are  well  known  to  be  persistent  rob- 
bers of  nests.  Where  there  are  large  colonies 
of  these  strange-faced,  yellow-eyed  birds  it  is 
probable  that  many  nestling  songsters  are  taken 
to  feed  the  young  grackles. 

That  blue  jays  are  even  more  destructive 
is  the  belief  of  many  observers.  One  famous 
ornithologist  told  me  recently  that  it  was  his 
private  opinion  that  every  individual  blue  jay 
was  a  nest  robber,  and  if  he  is  even  nearly  cor- 
rect, the  loss  of  bird  life  from  this  one  cause  alone 
must  be  considerable,  for  in  the  greater  part  of 
eastern  North  America  the  blue  jay  is  a  common 
bird. 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies      33 

Crows,  useful  as  they  are  at  most  seasons, 
often  get  the  nest-robbing  habit,  and  when  they 
do  they  become  a  source  of  great  distress  and 
disaster  to  the  small  birds.  A  few  of  these,  like 
the  kingbird  and  red-winged  blackbird,  seemingly 
by  the  great  vigor  of  their  attacks,  are  able  to 
drive  the  crows  away,  but  many  others  fail  to 
do  this  and  their  nests  are  pillaged  with  impunity. 
Many  a  time  in  the  breeding  season  have  I  seen 
a  crow  sneaking  through  the  trees  and  bushes 
where  he  had  no  legitimate  business,  evidently 
hunting  for  birds'  nests,  but  with  no  positive 
evidence  against  him  until  the  frantic  cries  of 
parent  birds  called  attention  to  the  thief  flying 
off  with  the  nestlings  in  his  bill.  Not  long  ago 
a  crow  came  into  a  garden  on  the  main  street  of 
Meriden,  and  was  seen  flying  off  with  his  bill 
filled  to  overflowing  with  young  robins.  He  had 
carried  off  the  whole  brood  at  once.  Not  all 
crows  perhaps  have  the  nest-robbing  habit,  but 
those  which  do  are  not  only  destructive  them- 
selves but  may  possibly  spread  the  habit  among 
their  brethren. 

Some  of  the  owls  also  are  destructive  to 
smaller  birds,  but  usually  their  vices  are  not 
unmixed  with  virtues.  For  instance,  the  great 
horned  owl,  while  he  sometimes  kills  crows  and 
grouse  and  other  useful  birds,  is  a  notorious 


34  Wild  Bird  Guests 

destroyer  of  skunks,  and  probably  weasels,  and 
other  bird  enemies.  The  screech  owl  undoubt- 
edly kills  many  small  birds,  some  no  doubt  while 
they  are  asleep  on  their  roosts;  others  are 
probably  dragged  from  their  nests.  From  the 
wing  and  tail  feathers  often  found  in  the  nests 
of  screech  owls  it  would  seem  that  they  capture 
a  good  many  flickers. 

But  of  the  birds  of  prey  in  this  country, 
Cooper's  hawk  and  the  sharp-shinned  hawk  are 
perhaps,  all  things  considered,  the  very  worst. 
Not  only  does  each  individual  kill  and  devour  a 
great  number  of  small  birds,  but  these  hawks  are 
common  over  a  wide  range  and  thus  constitute 
a  serious  check  upon  the  increase  of  other  birds. 
There  are  several  other  kinds  of  hawks,  the 
duck  hawk,  for  example,  which  are  just  as  savage 
and  individually  just  as  destructive,  but  they 
are  uncommon  and  therefore  have  but  slight 
effect  on  the  bird  population  of  the  country. 

The  sharp-shin  is  a  small,  silent,  fast-flying 
hawk  that  suddenly  appears  seemingly  from 
nowhere,  descends  like  a  flash  of  lightning  upon 
some  small  bird  in  the  grass,  or  dashes  into  the 
foliage  of  a  tree  or  bush  to  emerge  a  moment 
later  with  a  limp  song  sparrow,  thrush,  or  other 
little  songster  in  his  talons.  In  a  field  close  to 
my  house  I  saw  a  sharp-shinned  hawk  catch  and 


vtmcng 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       35 

kill  a  blue  jay  almost  as  large  as  itself  and 
several  times  I  have  shot  one  of  these  birds  as 
he  was  pursuing  bird  guests  in  my  garden. 
Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher,  the  great  authority  on  Amer- 
ican birds  of  prey,  reports  that  he  has  exam- 
ined the  stomachs  of  159  sharp-shinned  hawks. 
Fifty-two  of  them  happened  to  be  empty  but  of 
the  one  hundred  and  seven  which  contained  any 
food,  there  were  poultry  or  game  birds  in  six  and 
other  birds  in  ninety-nine.  It  is  true  that  six  of 
these  hawks  had  also  eaten  mice  and  that  five 
had  eaten  insects,  but  this  does  not  alter  the  fact 
that  the  principal  food  of  practically  all  those 
hawks  consisted  of  birds. 

The  habits  of  Cooper's  hawk  are  much  the 
same  as  those  of  the  sharp-shin,  and  he  is  worse 
simply  because  he  is  larger,  more  destructive  to 
poultry,  and  needs  more  birds  to  satisfy  his 
appetite.  I  once  examined  the  stomachs  of 
five  Cooper's  hawks — a  female  and  her  four 
young — in  one  day,  and  every  one  of  them  con- 
tained parts  of  small  birds.  Most  of  our  hawks 
are  very  useful  but  many  of  them  suffer  severely 
for  the  sins  of  these  two. 

Snapping  turtles,  which  often  grow  to  a  large 
size,  are  said  to  be  destructive  to  waterfowl  on 
ponds  and  rivers.  I  have  been  told  by  poultry 
keepers  that  these  powerful  reptiles  will  seize 


36  Wild  Bird  Guests 

ducks  by  the  legs  and  drag  them  under  the  water. 
Mr.  E.  A.  Quarles,  an  officer  of  the  American 
Game  Protective  and  Propagation  Association, 
told  me  of  a  snapping  turtle  which  he  knew  had 
killed  fifteen  young  wood  ducks,  and  Mr.  C.  H. 
Pease  of  Canaan,  Connecticut,  showed  me  a 
photograph  of  a  full-grown  duck  which  he  and 
his  wife  had  seen  mangled  and  killed  by  a  snap- 
ping turtle.  The  duck  was  feeding  with  its  head 
under  the  water,  and  the  reptile  seized  the  head 
in  its  powerful  jaws  and  crushed  it. 

Snakes  are  notorious  devourers  of  young  birds. 
They  are  splendid  climbers  and  thus  are  able  to 
rob  nests  built  in  trees  and  bushes  as  well  as  those 
on  the  ground.  The  skulls  of  snakes  are  loosely 
put  together  and  the  muscular  tissue  which 
binds  them  is  very  elastic.  This  permits  them 
to  be  stretched  to  an  almost  unbelievable 
extent  and  is  the  secret  of  a  snake's  ability  to 
swallow  creatures  much  larger  than  his  own 
head.  I  once  caught  a  milk  snake  at  a  catbird's 
nest  with  a  fully  fledged  young  catbird  just 
disappearing  down  its  throat.  Needless  to  say 
the  meal  was  interrupted.  The  snake,  which  I 
afterwards  measured,  was  twenty-seven  inches 
long.  The  common  black  snake,  perhaps  be- 
cause of  its  large  size,  is  one  of  the  most  de- 
structive. Some  years  ago  I  was  approaching  a 


Destruction  by  Natural  Enemies       37 

clearing  in  the  woods  when  I  heard  two  parent 
song  sparrows  uttering  frantic  cries,  and  as  I  came 
up  I  saw  a  large  black  snake  make  off  and  dis- 
appear under  a  pile  of  brush.  Close  to  the  point 
where  I  had  first  seen  it,  lay  a  fledgling  song 
sparrow,  which  the  snake  had  just  prepared 
for  swallowing.  Its  body  seemed  to  have  been 
squeezed  out  until  it  was  long  and  narrow  and  it 
was  wet  with  the  slimy  saliva  with  which  some 
snakes  cover  their  prey  before  swallowing  it. 

Large  bullfrogs  have  been  known  to  swallow 
young  birds,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  they  are 
anywhere  a  serious  menace  to  bird  life. 

Pike  and  certain  other  large  fish  sometimes 
capture  waterfowl  and  at  certain  times  and 
places  may  be  very  destructive.  Edward  Howe 
Forbush  once  saw  a  pied-billed  grebe  which  was 
watching  a  hawk,  spring  out  of  the  water  to 
escape  a  pickerel  which  had  tried  to  seize  it  by 
the  feet. 

One  might  think  that  with  so  many  natural 
enemies,  and  with  the  wholesale  destruction  of 
bird  life  by  the  elements,  there  would  soon  be 
no  birds  left.  Yet  it  is  a  fact  that  all  the  storms 
that  sweep  the  earth  and  all  the  natural  enemies, 
including  savage  people,  would  seldom  make  any 
lasting  impression  on  the  normal  bird  population, 
if  it  were  not  for  civilized  man  and  his  works. 


38  Wild  Bird  Guests 

To  be  sure  some  kinds  of  birds  become  very  much 
reduced  in  numbers  owing  to  severe  storms,  but 
these  very  disastrous  storms  do  not  occur  every 
year  and  in  the  meantime  the  natural  increase 
makes  up  the  losses.  And  among  the  birds  and 
their  natural  enemies,  nature  preserves  so  nice 
a  balance,  that  as  a  rule  no  one  species  gets  very 
much  ahead  of  another  until  civilized  man  steps 
in.  Civilized  man  has  many  needs  and  many 
desires  and  displays  great  ingenuity  in  supply- 
ing the  needs  and  gratifying  the  desires.  When 
these  needs  or  desires  involve  the  destruction  of 
animal  life,  the  fine  balance  which  would  other- 
wise be  preserved  by  nature  is  apt  to  be  de- 
stroyed, and  the  next  chapter  will  tell  some  of  the 
ways  by  which  civilized  man  becomes  directly 
and  indirectly,  perhaps  the  most  dangerous  of 
all  bird  enemies. 


CHAPTER  IV 

DESTRUCTION    OF    BIRDS    BY   MAN 

SAVAGE  tribes  not  influenced  by  civilization 
seldom  cause  a  serious  decrease  in  the  numbers 
of  birds  about  them.  They  usually  kill  only 
what  they  need  for  their  own  immediate  use — as 
food  and  clothing  and  to  a  smaller  extent  orna- 
ment, and  even  though  they  may  not  be  re- 
strained by  feelings  of  humanity  or  a  desire  to  be 
provident,  their  weapons  are  usually  so  crude 
that  they  cannot  inflict  wholesale  destruction 
upon  any  species.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Esquimaux,  they  gather  large  quantities  of 
the  eggs  of  certain  kinds  of  birds,  but  usually 
these  birds  are  present  in  such  vast  numbers,  the 
Esquimau  population  is  so  small,  and  the  other 
bird  enemies  so  few,  that  no  noticeable  impres- 
sion is  made  upon  the  colonies  of  little  auks  and 
other  birds  whose  eggs  are  taken. 

But  when  civilized  man  creates  a  market  for 
the  flesh  or  plumage  of  the  birds  hunted  by  the 
savage,  the  latter  is  often  urged  to  help  to 

39 


40  Wild  Bird  Guests 

supply  that  market.  Then  he  may  become  a 
very  dangerous  enemy  of  the  birds.  When  he 
has  supplied  his  own  needs,  his  work  is  not  done; 
it  is  never  done;  he  has  those  big  markets  to 
supply,  and  the  more  birds  he  kills  the  more  he 
will  be  paid  for,  so  it  is  to  his  advantage  to  kill 
all  he  can.  And  he  goes  on  killing  until  there 
are  no  more  birds  to  kill,  or,  until  for  some  reason 
there  is  no  more  demand  for  them  and  therefore 
it  no  longer  pays  him  to  kill  them.  The  head- 
hunting natives  of  Borneo  and  other  islands 
of  the  same  group  have  hunted  and  killed  the 
wonderful  birds  of  paradise  to  supply  feathers  for 
women's  hats  until  some  species  are  extinct  and 
all  others  in  danger  of  extinction. 

But  as  destroyers  of  bird  life  civilized  men  are 
infinitely  more  dangerous  than  savages.  Their 
most  peaceful  activities  mean  serious  interference 
with  the  birds.  They  begin  to  clear  the  land  of 
the  forests  growing  upon  it  and  the  homes  of 
millions  of  birds  go  down  before  the  axe.  They 
drain  the  marshes  and  vast  numbers  of  other 
birds  are  not  only  driven  out  of  their  homes,  but 
are  deprived  of  their  favorite  feeding  grounds. 
They  erect  lighthouses  which  every  year  lure 
thousands  of  birds  to  their  destruction.  The 
light  on  the  Statue  of  Liberty  in  New  York 
Harbor  has  been  responsible  for  great  loss  of  bird 


Destruction  by  Man  41 

life.  It  is  said  that  on  one  morning  soon  after  its 
erection,  there  were  picked  up  at  its  base  one 
thousand  four  hundred  birds  which  had  been 
killed  the  night  before. 

The  thousands  of  miles  of  telegraph,  tele- 
phone, electric  light,  and  trolley  wires,  stretched 
in  every  direction  across  civilized  countries,  kill 
many  birds  which  accidentally  fly  against  them. 
More  than  once  I  have  picked  up  dead  snipe 
immediately  below  telegraph  wires,  and  a  neigh- 
bor recently  picked  up  a  badly  wounded  wood- 
cock beneath  the  telephone  wire  in  his  garden. 
Tall  wire  fences  are  another  cause  of  destruction. 
Close  to  a  small  inclosure  one  hundred  feet 
square  and  surrounded  by  wire  netting  six  feet 
high,  I  picked  up  in  one  summer  five  dead  or 
wounded  birds.  The  eight-and-a-half-foot  wire 
fence  surrounding  the  Corbin  Game  Preserve  in 
New  Hampshire  probably  accounts  for  the  lives 
of  many  birds  every  year.  I  walked  around  it 
one  day  and  in  the  twenty-seven  miles  I  flushed 
a  number  of  ruffed  grouse.  Five  of  them  dashed 
right  into  the  fence,  some  of  them  with  such 
force  as  to  leave  tufts  of  feathers  clinging  to  the 
wires.  None  of  these  birds  happened  to  kill 
itself,  but  employees  of  the  Corbins  tell  me  that 
they  have  many  times  picked  up  dead  grouse 
along  the  fence.  A  few  days  ago  a  boy  working 


42  Wild  Bird  Guests 

on  the  road  near  the  Park  brought  me  a  dying 
hermit  thrush  which  he  thought  had  been 
injured  in  this  way. 

Then  civilized  man  is  chiefly  responsible, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  the  terrible 
forest  fires,  which  not  only  destroy  the  homes 
and  food  supply  of  millions  of  birds,  but  at 
times,  as  in  the  nesting  season,  must  cause  the 
immediate  destruction  of  all  young  birds  within 
the  burning  area  and  probably  many  of  the  old 
ones  as  well.  Perhaps  even  greater  destruction 
is  wrought  by  the  great  autumn  fires,  which 
lure  hosts  of  migrants  to  their  doom.  They 
become  bewildered  and  fall  into  the  flames. 
Not  long  ago,  Mr.  Nathan  C.  Schaeffer,  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  made  an  earnest 
appeal  to  the  school  children  of  Pennsylvania 
for  help  in  the  prevention  of  forest  fires.  He 
pointed  out  many  of  the  evils  of  such  fires  and 
among  them  the  fact  that  they  destroy  "all 
the  birds'  nests  and  their  eggs  and  the  young 
birds." 

Of  course  much  of  this  destruction  is  not  to 
be  avoided.  We  must  clear  the  land  in  order 
that  we  may  have  farms  and  cities;  we  must 
drain  the  marshes  for  the  same  reason  and  as  a 
matter  of  public  health,  and  the  lighthouses, 
telegraph  wires,  and  fences  follow  as  a  matter  of 


Destruction  by  Man  43 

course.  Fires  are  unnecessary  and  often  avoid- 
able, but  even  these  are  generally  the  result  of 
accident  and  are  comparatively  seldom  set  with 
any  intention  to  injure  the  birds. 

Nor  are  men  to  blame  for  killing  such  birds  as 
they  actually  need  for  food.  The  early  settlers 
were  obliged  to  hunt  in  order  to  live,  and  water- 
fowl and  what  are  commonly  known  as  game 
birds  played  an  important  part  in  saving  our 
ancestors  from  starvation.  In  those  early  days 
wild  ducks  and  geese,  wild  turkeys,  wild  pigeons, 
grouse,  and  quail  were  here  in  countless  numbers, 
and  as  the  number  of  people  in  the  country  was 
for  a  long  time  comparatively  small,  the  birds 
they  took  for  food  were  never  missed  from  the 
numberless  flocks  and  coveys  which  dotted  the 
waters  and  swarmed  in  the  forests.  In  fact  for 
many  years  the  settlers  might  have  been  counted 
among  the  friends  of  the  birds,  because  they 
also  killed  off  mountain  lions,  wild  cats,  wolves, 
foxes,  raccoons,  opossums,  and  other  natural 
enemies  that  would  doubtless  have  destroyed 
more  birds  than  were  taken  by  the  hunters. 
But  gradually,  very  gradually  at  first,  the  tide 
changed  against  the  birds.  As  more  and  more 
people  thronged  to  our  shores,  more  and  more 
food  was  needed  to  sustain  them.  Birds  were 
easy  to  get  and  cheap  to  buy  and  they  were 


44  Wild  Bird  Guests 

killed  and  sold.  Hundreds  of  towns  and  cities 
grew  up,  great  markets  were  established,  and 
more  and  more  gunners  took  the  field  every  year 
in  order  to  supply  those  markets.  Professional 
game  dealers  came  into  existence  and  professional 
market  gunners  took  up  their  trade  and  saw  to 
it  that  they  were  well  supplied  with  birds.  At 
first  the  game  dealers  would  not  buy  more  than 
could  be  used  within  a  few  days,  that  is  before  it 
spoiled,  but  presently  the  system  of  cold  storage 
was  invented  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to 
the  quantity  which  would  be  bought  and  stored 
away.  Another  class  of  men,  the  sportsmen, 
also  began  to  kill  the  birds,  not  because  they 
actually  needed  them  for  food  but  because  they 
found  pleasure  and  recreation  in  hunting  them. 
Nor  were  the  game  birds  the  only  ones  to  suffer. 
With  the  coming  of  certain  fashions  in  dress  came 
a  demand  for  bird  plumage  for  women's  hats 
and  another  class  of  bird  killers,  known  as  plume- 
hunters,  sprang  into  existence.  These  men 
made  a  practice  of  shooting  any  kind  of  bird  for 
which  the  milliners  had  a  market.  At  one  time 
it  was  grebes,  at  another  gulls  and  terns,  snowy 
herons,  or  bright-colored  song  birds  like  orioles 
and  scarlet  tanagers. 

To  supply  this  ever-increasing  army  of  shoot- 
ers great  gun  factories  were  established  and  the 


Destruction  by  Man  45 

ingenuity  of  many  inventors  was  applied  to  the 
making  of  more  effective  guns — weapons  with 
which  men  could  kill  more  birds.  The  old 
flint-lock  was  replaced  with  a  more  reliable  gun 
discharged  by  means  of  a  cap.  The  muzzle-load- 
ing gun  gave  way  to  a  breech-loading  gun,  which 
could  be  fired  three  times  as  fast.  Then  came 
the  double-barrelled  breech-loader,  nearly  twice 
as  deadly  as  the  single-barrelled,  and  this  was 
followed  by  the  "  pump  "  gun  and  automatic  shot 
guns  said  to  be  about  ten  times  as  effective  as 
the  old  muzzle-loader. 

Before  these  weapons  in  the  hands  of  thou- 
sands of  men,  the  wild  fowl  disappeared  like 
snow  before  a  summer  wind,  some  of  them  never 
to  return.  The  great  auk,  a  flightless  sea-bird 
inhabiting  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  North 
Atlantic,  was  the  first  to  become  extinct.  From 
early  times  it  had  been  the  victim  of  attacks  by 
voyagers  and  fishermen  who  killed  it  for  its 
flesh,  feathers,  and  oil.  The  fact  that  it  nested  in 
large  colonies  and  that  it  could  not  fly  resulted 
in  its  being  destroyed  in  great  numbers.  It 
held  its  own  fairly  well,  however,  until  its  plum- 
age came  into  demand  for  feather  beds  when  it 
disappeared.  No  living  specimen  has  been  seen 
since  1842. 

The  Labrador  duck  was  the  next  to  go,  but  in 


46  Wild  Bird  Guests 

this  case  the  cause  of  extinction  is  not  known. 
Probably  it  was  never  a  very  numerous  species. 
The  gunners  may  have  had  something  to  do  with 
its  disappearance,  for  about  the  middle  of  last 
century  it  was  often  seen  in  the  markets.  It  was 
not,  however,  considered  very  desirable  for  food, 
and  it  is  hardly  likely  that  there  was  sufficient 
demand  for  it  to  endanger  its  existence.  Pos- 
sibly it  was  wiped  out  by  some  disease  such 
as  the  epidemic  which  has  recently  played  such 
havoc  among  the  wild  ducks  and  other  marsh 
birds  in  Utah  and  which  we  shall  speak  of  else- 
where. But  whatever  the  cause,  no  living 
Labrador  duck  has  been  seen  since  1871. 

The  extermination  of  the  passenger  pigeon, 
however,  was  wholly  due  to  the  selfish  greed  of 
man.  It  is  said  that  in  the  early  part  of  last 
century  this  was  probably  the  most  numerous 
bird  on  the  North  American  continent.  In 
order  to  get  a  faint  idea  of  the  numbers  of  the 
passenger  pigeon  in  the  time  of  Alexander  Wilson, 
the  ornithologist,  let  us  imagine,  if  we  can,  just 
one  such  flock  as  he  observed  near  Frankfort, 
Kentucky,  about  1808.  The  birds  moved  in  a 
column,  whose  front  was  more  than  a  mile  in 
width,  and,  flying  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  a  minute, 
they  took  four  long  hours  to  pass.  Wilson,  who 
was  an  accurate  observer,  after  a  careful  calcu- 


Destruction  by  Man  47 

lation,  estimated  that  this  one  flock  contained 
at  least  two  billion,  two  hundred  and  thirty 
million,  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  thou- 
sand pigeons. 

Audubon  also  gives  a  grand  account  of  the 
armies  of  the  passenger  pigeon  as  observed  by 
him.  In  1813,  while  riding  from  Henderson  to 
Louisville,  he  noticed  the  pigeons  flying  over  in 
even  greater  numbers  than  usual,  and  dismounted 
that  he  might  attempt  to  count  the  number  of 
detached  flocks  which  passed  him  in  an  hour. 
In  twenty-one  minutes  he  gave  up  the  task  as 
impracticable.  He  says,  "I  travelled  on,  and 
still  the  air  was  literally  filled  with  pigeons ;  the 
light  of  the  noonday  sun  was  obscured  as  if  by 
an  eclipse,  and  the  continual  buzz  of  the  wings 
had  a  tendency  to  lull  my  senses  to  repose." 
It  would  seem  that  nothing  man  could  do  would 
greatly  diminish  such  countless  multitudes  as 
these,  especially  when  Audubon  assures  us  that 
they  at  least  doubled  their  number  and  not  in- 
frequently quadrupled  them  yearly.  But  alas, 
the  pigeons  were  easy  to  get,  they  had  a  market 
value,  and  it  was  not  against  the  law  to  kill  them, 
and  this  combination  would  have  insured  their 
extermination  had  there  been  a  hundred  times 
as  many.  The  fact  that  they  roosted  and  nested 
in  vast  densely-packed  colonies  greatly  simplified 


48  Wild  Bird  Guests 

matters  for  the  destroyers,  and  though  the  birds 
were  killed  wherever  they  were  seen,  the  great 
slaughters  occurred  at  the  roosts  and  at  the 
nesting  grounds. 

In  the  time  of  Wilson  and  Audubon,  one  single 
colony  of  pigeons  would  sometimes  occupy  a 
forest  forty  miles  long  and  perhaps  three  to  four 
wide,  every  available  tree  of  which  would  be 
laden  to  the  breaking  point  with  the  nests.  Wil- 
son counted  upwards  of  ninety  nests  in  a  single 
tree,  and  some  trees  contained  more  than  a  hun- 
dred. Each  nest  soon  contained  one  or  two  fat 
squabs.  Every  morning  the  parent  birds  started 
for  their  feeding  grounds,  vast  forests  of  beech  or 
oak  trees  perhaps,  possibly  two  or  three  hundred 
miles  away;  and  from  noon  until  late  in  the 
afternoon  they  came  pouring  in  with  well-laden 
crops.  Then  the  pigeon  harvest  was  ripe,  and 
armies  of  people,  men,  women,  and  children  from 
the  surrounding  country,  came  in  to  gather  it. 
Some  brought  tents,  that  they  might  camp  upon 
the  scene,  and  others  came  with  sacks,  baskets, 
and  barrels,  in  which  to  collect  the  spoils,  and 
horses  and  wagons  with  which  to  remove  them. 
Then  began  a  fearful  massacre,  in  which  no  one 
thought  of  anything  save  how  he  could  secure  the 
greatest  number  of  pigeons  in  the  shortest  space 
of  time.  Some  used  guns,  others  clubs  or  long 


Destruction  by  Man  49 

poles  with  which  to  beat  down  the  frantic  pigeons, 
and  still  others  suffocated  the  birds  with  pots 
of  burning  sulphur.  The  fat  squabs  in  the  nests 
were  considered  even  more  desirable  prizes  than 
the  old  birds,  and  scores  of  men  spent  their  entire 
time  in  throwing  to  the  ground,  by  means  of  long 
poles,  all  the  nests  within  reach.  Others,  for 
whom  this  method  was  too  slow,  attacked  the 
trees  with  axes,  bringing  down  a  hundred  nests 
at  once. 

Eye-witnesses  testify  that  the  spectacle  was 
an  awful  one.  Savage  Indians,  and  still  more 
savage  white  men,  with  many  women  and 
children,  all  engaged  in  killing  birds.  With 
hands  and  faces  smeared  with  blood,  and  with 
feathers  sticking  in  their  clothing,  many  o£ 
them  looked  scarce  human  in  the  uncertain  light, 
as  they  ran  back  and  forth  over  the  slippery 
ground,  shouting  at  the  tops  of  their  voices 
in  order  to  make  themselves  heard  above  the 
thundering  roar  created  by  the  wings  of  millions 
of  pigeons.  All  night  long  this  awful  slaughter 
continued,  and  at  dawn  the  woods  were  seen  to 
be  carpeted  with  dead  and  dying  birds.  Sneak- 
ing away  through  the  shadows  of  the  woods 
could  be  seen  the  dim  forms  of  mountain  lions, 
foxes,  wild  cats,  skunks,  and  other  night  prowlers, 
and  then  in  the  air  would  appear  eagles  and 


50  Wild  Bird  Guests 

hawks  and  vultures  coming  for  their  share  of 
the  feast. 

The  slaughtered  pigeons  were  gathered  up  and 
piled  in  heaps  until  everyone  had  all  he  could 
cart  away,  and  then  droves  of  hogs,  sometimes 
driven  from  long  distances,  were  turned  into  the 
woods  to  fatten  on  the  remainder. 

Year  after  year  the  massacres  were  repeated, 
the  unfortunate  pigeons  being  followed  from  one 
breeding  ground  to  another,  and  that  they  were 
not  exterminated  years  ago,  is  due  solely  to  the 
fact  that  the  remaining  few  became  so  scat- 
tered that  it  no  longer  paid  anyone  to  pursue 
them. 

In  addition  to  those  destroyed  at  the  breeding 
grounds,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  old  birds  were 
trapped  in  "clap  nets,"  upwards  of  three  hun- 
dred sometimes  being  taken  in  a  single  haul,  and 
one  man  being  able  to  catch  perhaps  six  thou- 
sand in  a  day.  Many  were  sent  by  schooner- 
loads  to  New  York,  where  they  were  sold  at  one 
time  for  one  cent  apiece,  and  they  were  so  cheap 
in  some  places  that  the  hogs  were  fed  on  them. 

They  have  gone,  and  America  has  nothing  to 
show  for  her  loss  unless  it  be  additional  proof 
of  the  fact  that  no  bird,  no  matter  how  numer- 
ous or  how  prolific,  can  long  hold  its  own  if  it  is 
repeatedly  attacked  on  its  breeding  grounds. 


^^^ 


Destruction  by  Man  51 

Several  attempts  were  made  to  save  the 
passenger  pigeons  by  rearing  flocks  of  them  in 
confinement,  but  these  attempts  served  only  to 
postpone  for  a  few  years  the  absolute  extinction 
of  the  bird.  A  flock  was  established  at  Woods 
Hole,  Massachusetts,  for  a  time  by  Professor  C. 
O.  Whitman  of  Chicago  University,  and  another 
occupied  a  large  cage  in  the  Cincinnati  Zo- 
ological Park,  where  I  have  several  times  visited 
what  is  believed  to  have  been  the  last  survivor 
of  its  race.  This  bird,  a  female,  was  in  cap- 
tivity for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
and  died  only  recently. 

The  Esquimau  curlew  is  now  believed  to  be 
extinct  or  nearly  so,  and  again  the  selfishness  of 
man  is  to  blame.  This  curlew  was,  as  its  other 
common  name,  dough  bird,  implies,  a  delicious 
table  fowl,  and  its  demand  for  the  market  was 
the  chief  cause  of  its  extermination. 

Though  its  actual  numbers  were  probably 
never  so  large  as  those  of  the  passenger  pigeon, 
they  must  have  been  very  great.  Dense  flocks 
of  these  birds  said  to  contain  millions  were  often 
reported  at  points  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
during  the  earlier  half  of  last  century,  and  an 
immense  flight  in  Labrador  in  1833  actually 
reminded  Audubon  of  the  passenger  pigeon 
itself. 


52  Wild  Bird  Guests 

The  Esquimau  curlews  nested  from  Alaska  to 
Labrador,  the  favorite  breeding  place  being  the 
Barren  Grounds  of  Northwestern  Canada.  They 
wintered  in  Argentina  and  Patagonia,  and  every 
fall  the  birds  appeared  in  almost  unbelievable 
flocks  in  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  and  the 
Magdalen  Islands,  where  the  fishermen  killed 
great  numbers  and  salted  them  down  in  barrels. 
The  curlews  then  proceeded  to  Nova  Scotia 
where  they  left  the  land  and  headed  for  South 
America  by  way  of  the  West  Indies.  On  the 
Magdalen  Islands  and  perhaps  elsewhere  they 
roosted  in  dense  masses  on  the  high  beach,  and 
men  armed  with  sticks  and  carrying  lanterns  to 
dazzle  the  birds  slaughtered  them  by  wholesale. 
Nor  did  they  receive  any  better  treatment  on 
the  New  England  coast,  where  after  buffeting  a 
cold  northeast  storm  until  they  were  exhausted, 
they  alighted  in  misplaced  confidence  to  rest. 
Their  arrival  was  the  signal  for  men  and  boys  to 
chase  and  beat  them  down  with  clubs,  or  for  the 
market-hunters  and  other  gunners  to  shoot  them 
as  long  as  one  remained  on  shore.  In  1872  they 
were  killed  in  such  numbers  on  Cape  Cod  that 
the  'boys  sold  them  as  low  as  six  cents  apiece. 
Even  at  such  prices  some  of  the  market-hunters 
sold  hundreds  of  dollars  worth.  It  is  little  won- 
der that  the  curlews  at  last  learned  to  shun 


Destruction  by  Man  53 

the  New  England  coast  as  a  deadly  region,  to  be 
visited  only  at  night  and  then  only  when  they 
were  too  exhausted  to  continue  their  flight. 

After  spending  the  winter  in  South  America, 
the  dough  birds  went  back  to  their  northern 
homes  by  a  different  route,  by  way  of  the  Gulf 
States,  and  in  the  spring  months  were  seen  in 
great  numbers  on  the  western  prairies  and  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  But  they  fared  no  bet- 
ter in  the  west  than  they  did  in  New  England 
and  were  massacred  wherever  they  went.  If 
one  was  wounded  and  cried  out,  many  of  its 
companions  would  at  once  come  and  hover  over 
it,  and  this  habit  must  have  helped  in  its  destruc- 
tion by  cowboys  and  others. 

The  Esquimau  curlew  was  doomed.  Its  num- 
bers began  to  diminish  rather  slowly  at  first, 
but  rapidly  later  on.  The  great  flights  became 
less  and  less  frequent  and  smaller  and  smaller  in 
size  until  at  last  they  ceased  and  the  bird  is  now 
believed  to  be  practically  extinct.  Specimens 
are  still  shot  occasionally;  an  individual  was 
taken  as  late  as  September  5,  1913,  at  East 
Orleans,  Massachusetts. 

Besides  these  birds  which  have  gone  forever, 
there  are  a  number  more  which  have  been  per- 
secuted until  they  have  disappeared  from  the 
greater  part  of  their  former  range  and  in  some 


54  Wild  Bird  Guests 

cases  are  so  reduced  in  numbers  that  they  will 
probably  soon  be  extinct.  Among  these  are  the 
trumpeter  swan,  the  whooping  crane,  and  the 
Carolina  paraquet.  The  last  named  is  believed 
by  some  authorities  to  be  extinct  already,  but 
Frederic  H.  Kennard,  in  a  recent  visit  to  Florida, 
satisfied  himself  that  there  are  a  very  few  left 
in  that  State.  He  did  not  see  the  birds,  but 
by  carefully  sifting  the  evidence  of  a  number 
of  residents,  he  learned  of  the  existence  of  at 
least  seven  individuals.  According  to  Frank  M. 
Chapman,  the  extermination  of  the  paraquet  was 
due  chiefly  to  four  causes.  He  says,  "first,  it 
was  destructive  to  fruit  orchards,  and  for  this 
reason  was  killed  by  agriculturists;  second,  it 
was  trapped  and  bagged  in  enormous  numbers 
by  professional  bird-catchers ;  third,  it  has  been 
killed  in  myriads  for  its  plumage;  and  fourth, 
it  has  been  wantonly  slaughtered  by  so-called 
sportsmen.  In  short,  in  the  present  century, 
the  paraquet  has  always  disappeared  soon  after 
its  haunts  were  invaded  by  civilized  man." 

There  are  many  other  birds  which  have  been 
reduced  in  numbers  to  the  danger  point,  but  I 
will  mention  but  two  more — the  great  white 
heron  and  the  snowy  egret,  both  of  which  were 
once  distributed  over  a  wide  range  extending 
from  Northern  South  America  to  New  England, 


Destruction  by  Man  55 

and  which  were  numerous  in  many  places  such 
as  Florida  and  the  Mississippi  Valley.  They 
have  been  extirpated  over  a  very  large  part  of 
this  range  and  that  they  are  not  extinct  is  due 
to  the  passing  of  rigid  laws  for  their  protection, 
to  the  setting  aside  as  bird  refuges  by  executive 
order,  certain  suitable  tracts  of  lands  where  the 
birds  might  live  and  nest  in  peace,  and  by  the 
patriotic  efforts  of  a  few  private  individuals 
who  have  established  sanctuaries  for  the  herons. 
The  curse  of  these  birds  was  the  beautiful 
plumes  or  "aigrettes"  which  they  wore  only  in 
the  nesting  season  and  which  for  this  reason 
have  often  been  called  the  "bridal"  plumes. 
The  story  of  the  destruction  of  these  herons 
for  their  plumage  is  perhaps  the  most  dishearten- 
ing and  certainly  the  saddest  of  any  connected 
with  the  killing  of  wild  birds  in  this  country. 
The  herons  nested  in  large  colonies  and  the  men 
employed  by  the  feather  dealers  to  obtain  the 
plumes,  would  visit  these  colonies  when  the  nest- 
ing season  was  at  its  height  and  when  the 
mother  love  of  the  parent  birds  was  so  strong 
that  no  amount  of  shooting  would  make  them 
leave  the  place.  Here,  usually  with  small 
noiseless  rifles,  the  herons  were  shot  down  as  they 
came  in  from  the  feeding  ground  with  food  for 
their  young,  as  they  sat  upon  their  nests,  or  some- 


56  Wild  Bird  Guests 

times  as  they  came  in  attracted  by  a  wounded 
comrade  tied  to  a  stake  in  the  swamp  as  a  decoy. 
The  plumes  were  then  stripped  from  their  backs 
and  the  bodies  left  to  rot.  Sad  as  this  is,  it  is  by 
no  means  the  saddest  part  of  the  story.  The 
young  birds  which  occupied  most  of  the  nests  at 
this  season,  and  which  were  of  course  entirely 
dependent  on  their  parents  for  food,  were  left 
to  starve  to  death  after  pitifully  calling,  some- 
times for  days,  for  their  parents  who  lay  in  the 
swamp  beneath  with  their  backs  torn  out,  that  wo- 
men might  wear  the  looted  plumes  in  their  hats. 

If  anything  could  be  more  outrageous  than 
this,  surely  it  is  the  recent  massacre  of  birds  on 
the  Island  of  Laysan.  In  order  to  give  an  intel- 
ligent idea  of  this  affair,  it  is  necessary  to  say  a 
few  words  about  the  island  itself. 

To  most  of  us  the  word  "Laysan"  means  little 
if  anything  more  than  a  tiny  dot  on  the  map, 
indicating  the  position  of  a  wee  coral  island  in  the 
Pacific  about  eight  hundred  miles  northwest  by 
west  from  Honolulu ;  but  to  the  men  who  have 
been  there,  the  mere  mention  of  it  brings  to  the 
mind  a  hundred  pictures  representing  the  joys 
and  sorrows,  the  festivals  and  the  tragedies  in  the 
lives  of  myriad  birds  which  comprise  perhaps 
the  most  unique  community  of  feathered  beings 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  one  of  many  tiny 


Destruction  by  Man  57 

islets,  rocks,  and  reefs,  which  like  so  many  truant 
children,  straggle  off  from  the  main  Hawaiian 
group  in  the  direction  of  Japan;  specks  of  land 
insignificant  enough  perhaps  when  judged  by 
human  standards,  but  great  residential  centers 
and  nurseries  for  the  unnumbered  sea-fowl  which 
call  them  "home/'  The  great  white  albatross, 
King  of  the  Pacific,  whom  we  see  on  tireless  wing, 
levying  tribute  on  the  very  borders  of  his  do- 
mains, carries  in  his  brain  a  chart  of  these  islands, 
and  he  has  his  capital  at  Laysan.  How  long  this 
islet  has  been  inhabited  by  its  feathered  popula- 
tion no  man  can  tell,  but  doubtless  for  ages. 
Small  as  it  is,  barely  three  miles  long,  it  was  a 
few  years  ago  the  home  of  millions  of  birds, 
including  five  species  found  nowhere  else  in 
the  world.  Practically  every  square  yard  was 
occupied,  and  thousands  of  late  comers  were 
obliged  to  go  away  because  there  was  no  room  for 
them.  In  fact  there  are  so  many  bird  homes  on 
Laysan,  that  the  tenants  are  obliged  to  live  in 
tenement  fashion,  some  underground  in  burrows, 
others  on  the  surface,  and  others  still  in  the 
bushes  above.  And  quite  unlike  other  bird 
homes,  these  are  used  all  the  year  round ;  not  by 
the  same  tenants  to  be  sure,  for  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  families  of  one  species  are 
ready  to  move  out,  those  of  another  species  are 


58  Wild  Bird  Guests 

waiting  to  move  in.  There  is  no  "quiet"  season 
in  Laysan;  it  is  the  scene  of  strange  and  ceaseless 
activity  from  year's  end  to  year's  end,  forever. 

This,  in  a  general  way,  is  the  impression  I  got 
from  a  story  told  me  by  Mr.  Walter  K.  Fisher, 
the  ornithologist  who  formed  one  of  the  party 
aboard  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  Steamer 
Albatross,  which  from  March  to  August,  1902, 
was  engaged  in  deep-sea  explorations  among  the 
Hawaiian  Islands. 

Standing  on  a  pile  of  phosphate  rock  not  far 
from  a  little  pond,  one  could  overlook  the  largest 
colony  of  white  albatrosses  on  the  island  and 
probably  the  largest  in  the  world.  At  certain 
times  of  the  day  this  whole  section  was  literally 
white  with  the  snowy  plumage  of  these  great 
sea-birds,  actually  numbering  more  than  a 
million  individuals.  Overhead  one  might  see 
and  hear  tens  of  thousands  of  terns,  apparently 
all  screaming  at  once  and  creating  such  a  vol- 
ume of  bewildering  noise  that  one  was  obliged 
to  shout  in  order  to  make  oneself  heard.  In 
another  part  of  the  island  there  were  colonies 
of  the  black-footed  albatross,  which  while  not 
so  numerous,  would  have  been  considered  re- 
markable almost  anywhere  else  but  in  Laysan. 
Birds'  eggs  were  everywhere,  and  it  was  prac- 
tically impossible  to  move  about  without  de- 


Destruction  by  Man  59 

stroying  some.  They  were  in  the  grass  and  the 
bushes,  on  the  ground  by  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  in  many  places  it  was  difficult  to  walk  on 
account  of  the  burrows  of  petrels  and  shearwaters 
into  which  one  would  sink  to  the  knees  at  almost 
every  step.  There  were  birds  overhead,  birds 
under  foot,  peering  from  every  bush  and  from 
behind  every  tussock  of  grass,  scuttling  about 
over  the  ground  after  food  or  with  flopping  wings 
attempting  to  lead  the  stranger  from  the  vicinity 
of  their  homes.  Red-tailed  tropic  birds,  boobies, 
man-o'-war  birds,  rails,  teal,  bristle-thighed 
curlews,  golden  plovers,  trunstones,  honey-eaters, 
finches,  and  miller-birds,  each  species  busy  with 
its  own  affairs,  which  not  infrequently  involved 
interference  with  the  affairs  of  others. 

And  more  remarkable  perhaps  even  than  the 
great  numbers  of  the  birds  was  their  tameness. 
The  great  albatrosses  would  literally  meet  a 
visitor  half-way  and  gather  about  him,  gently 
examining  the  texture  of  his  clothing  with  their 
bills  and  in  other  ways  seeming  to  take  as  much 
interest  in  his  affairs  as  he  did  in  theirs. 

Mr.  Fisher's  experience  with  the  Laysan  rail 
will  give  some  idea  of  how  trustful  of  man  birds 
may  be  if  they  never  have  cause  to  regard  him  as 
an  enemy.  This  tiny  brown  bird  is  flightless; 
its  wings  are  not  used  at  all  except  when  the  rail 


60  Wild  Bird  Guests 

is  hopping  to  a  perch  or  hurrying  very  fast,  at 
which  times  they  are  spread  somewhat  as  a 
domestic  fowl's  wings  are  spread  under  similar 
circumstances.  On  one  occasion  Mr.  Fisher  was 
about  to  photograph  the  nest  and  eggs  of  one 
of  these  birds  and  for  this  purpose  had  parted  and 
propped  back  the  juncus  stems  which  hid  it  from 
view.  As  he  was  about  to  make  the  exposure, 
and  with  the  camera  only  two  feet  away,  the 
little  rail  hopped  back  into  the  nest  and  in  a 
business-like  way  began  to  cover  herself  up  with 
the  soft  lining.  Mr.  Fisher  photographed  her 
several  times,  but  then  desiring  to  get  the  picture 
of  the  nest  and  eggs,  he  lifted  her  off,  but  at  once 
she  slipped  back  and  defeated  his  purpose.  Then 
with  the  black  cloth  he  chased  her  away  into  the 
tall  grass  a  short  distance,  and  hastened  back  to 
the  camera,  but  the  little  rail,  as  though  deter- 
mined that  he  should  not  get  that  picture  if  she 
could  help  it,  came  skipping  back  and  was  into 
the  nest  again  before  the  exposure  could  be 
made. 

It  would  seem  that  here  at  least  was  a  colony 
of  birds  that  need  not  fear  the  destructive  hand 
of  man.  They  had  sought  a  refuge  hundreds  of 
miles  from  civilization,  and  by  their  presence  and 
their  activities  had  made  an  insignificant  little 
island  into  one  of  the  wonder  spots  of  the  world. 


Destruction  by  Man  61 

Beautiful,  trustful,  and  defenseless,  these  inoffen- 
sive creatures  make  a  direct  appeal  to  every 
decent  instinct,  but  as  far  as  the  plume-hunters 
were  concerned,  the  appeal  was  made  in  vain. 
In  the  spring  of  1909  a  party  of  twenty-three  of 
these  cold-blooded  men  landed  on  Laysan,  and 
began  a  work  of  slaughter  which  for  heartless 
cruelty  has  perhaps  never  been  equalled  by  any- 
one else  engaged  in  this  cruel  business.  Ap- 
parently it  was  their  intention  to  kill  all  the 
birds  on  the  island  and  they  actually  succeeded 
in  butchering  three  hundred  thousand  of  these 
innocent  creatures  before  the  United  States 
Government,  in  prompt  response  to  a  telegram 
from  Professor  William  A.  Bryan  of  Honolulu, 
sent  the  revenue  cutter  Thetis  and  stopped  the 
killing.  Sad  and  almost  unbelievable  sights 
greeted  Captain  Jacobs  and  the  men  of  the  Thetis. 
Several  acres  which  had  been  the  site  of  teeming 
colonies  of  industrious  happy  birds,  were  strewn 
with  bones  and  dead  bodies.  Car  loads  of  feath- 
ers, skins,  and  wings  were  ready  for  shipping,  and 
thousands  of  other  wings  were  piled  in  a  shed, 
and  it  is  the  bitter  truth  that  many  of  these  wings 
had  been  cut  from  the  bodies  of  living  birds 
which  had  then  been  allowed  to  run  away  to 
bleed  to  death.  But  the  wretches  who  did  this 
thing — I  cannot  bring  myself  to  call  them  men — 


62  Wild  Bird  Guests 

went  farther  than  this.  They  put  hundreds  of 
sea-birds  in  a  dry  cistern  and  allowed  them  to 
slowly  starve  to  death,  because  in  starving  they 
would  use  up  the  fatty  tissue  stored  next  to  the 
skin,  leaving  the  skin  free  from  grease  and  there- 
fore much  easier  to  prepare.  These  birds  were 
tortured  to  supply  the  millinery  trade  which 
some  people  still  dare  to  uphold ;  and  the  mil- 
linery trade  required  them  because  thoughtless 
women  insisted  on  wearing  these  badges  of 
cruelty  in  their  hats. 

When  I  see  women  wearing  the  plumage  of 
wild  birds,  I  wonder  if  they  have  normal  brains, 
or  indeed  whether  they  have  any  brains  at  all. 
It  seems  impossible  that  they  should,  in  this  day, 
still  be  ignorant  of  the  misery  they  are  causing, 
and  it  seems  equally  impossible  that  if  they  do 
know  it  they  can  be  so  heartless  as  to  uphold  and 
prolong  the  cruel  fashion. 

Fortunately  many  good  laws  have  recently 
been  passed  in  this  country  to  protect  the  wild 
birds  formerly  used  for  millinery  purposes,  and 
when  the  other  civilized  governments  are  ready 
to  cooperate  with  our  own  we  can  have  an 
international  law  which  will  practically  put  a 
stop  to  this  traffic  in  wild-bird  plumage.  But  it 
cannot  be  flattering  to  the  women  who  persist  in 
wearing  plumage,  to  realize  that  it  is  necessary 


Destruction  by  Man  63 

for  men  to  make  laws  to  force  them  to  give  up 
a  cruel  practice. 

But  it  is  not  the  plume-hunter  alone  who  is 
causing  our  remaining  wild  birds  to  disappear; 
there  are  many  other  kinds  of  hunters.  Of  these 
one  of  the  worst  is  the  so-called  sportsman.  I 
use  the  word  "  so-called  "  to  distinguish  him  from 
the  real  sportsman  who  is  one  of  the  best  pro- 
tectors of  birds  we  have.  The  real  sportsman 
is  the  man  who  is  fond  of  the  woods  and  fields, 
and  streams,  and  lakes,  and  who,  when  game 
and  fish  are  plentiful  likes  to  get  a  little  for  him- 
self or  a  friend,  but  who,  when  game  shows  signs 
of  decreasing,  does  his  best  in  every  way  to  pro- 
tect it  and  insure  its  increase.  The  "so-called" 
sportsman  often  seems  to  forget  that  anyone 
else  has  an  interest  in  the  game;  he  sometimes 
acts  as  though  he  owned  it  all,  and  proceeds  to 
take  it  all  or  as  nearly  all  of  it  as  he  can  get. 
It  never  seems  to  occur  to  him  that  there  is  a 
limit  to  the  number  of  birds  which  it  is  fair  for 
him  to  shoot,  even  when  they  are  plentiful,  or 
that  he  should  refrain  entirely  from  shooting 
when  they  are  scarce.  He  fights  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  any  good  law  which  may  be  framed 
with  a  view  to  saving  the  sorely  harassed  birds, 
if  it  in  any  way  interferes  with  his  own  pleasure. 
He  shoots  all  the  birds  the  law  permits  him  to, 


64  Wild  Bird  Guests 

even  when  he  knows  that  the  law  is  unfair  to  the 
birds  and  that  they  cannot  hold  their  own  against 
it.  If  there  is  no  law  to  stop  him  he  kills  all  the 
birds  he  can,  and  resorts  to  the  use  of  automatic 
and  pump  guns  and  other  unfair  weapons  because 
it  is  not  "sport,"  but  birds,  that  he  is  trying 
to  get.  With  such  weapons  as  these  in  a  place 
where  birds  are  plentiful,  a  man  can  kill  from 
two  hundred  to  four  hundred  wild  ducks  or  wild 
geese  in  a  day.  The  damage  which  can  be 
inflicted  on  game  birds  and  waterfowl  by  this 
class  of  gunner  has  been  greatly  increased  by  the 
invention  of  the  automobile  and  the  power  boat, 
both  of  which  enable  him  to  hunt  over  a  vastly 
wider  field  in  a  given  time  than  was  possible 
before. 

As  a  destroyer  of  game  birds  the  market- 
hunter  is  perhaps  the  worst  of  all.  Most  other 
gunners  go  hunting  occasionally  or  for  a  few  days 
at  a  time,  but  the  market-man  makes  a  business 
of  hunting  and  if  the  law  permits  goes  out  every 
day  as  long  as  there  are  any  birds  left  to  shoot. 
Of  course  he  uses  the  automatic  and  pump  shot 
guns,  because  with  them  he  can  get  more  birds 
and  more  birds  to  him  mean  more  money. 

The  farmers  are  to  a  large  extent  responsible 
for  the  great  decrease  among  our  birds  of  prey. 
They  are  not  the  only  ones  to  blame  for  there  are 


Destruction  by  Man  65 

many  gunners  who  cannot  resist  the  temptation 
to  shoot  at  large,  conspicuous  birds  of  any  kind. 
But  the  farmers,  more  than  any  others  perhaps, 
kill  hawks  and  owls  more  or  less  systematically, 
because  they  believe  these  birds,  one  and  all, 
to  be  destroyers  of  poultry.  In  one  way  it  is 
quite  natural  that  they  should  believe  this.  It  is 
easy  to  notice  a  hawk  come  down  into  one's 
poultry  yard  and  fly  away  with  a  hen  or  even  a 
chicken  which  one  knows  by  sight.  And  it  is 
easy  to  appreciate  the  loss  because  it  is  imme- 
diate and  definite,  the  value  of  the  chicken  being 
known.  But  it  is  much  less  easy  to  keep  in  sight 
that  same  hawk  or  another,  as  day  after  day  he 
picks  up  mice  in  the  distant  fields.  And  though 
the  gain  to  the  farm  through  the  destruction  of 
the  mice  may  be  many  times  greater  than  the  loss 
sustained  by  the  killing  of  the  chicken,  the  exact 
amount  of  it  is  not  known  to  the  farmer  and 
moreover  he  does  not  get  it  at  once.  The  one 
thing  that  is  really  clear  to  him  is  that  a  hawk 
has  caused  him  a  loss,  and  without  looking  any 
farther  he  decides  to  prevent  losses  of  that  kind 
by  killing  every  hawk  he  sees.  When  laws  are 
passed  to  prevent  the  killing  of  birds,  he  sees 
to  it  that  the  hawks  are  not  included  in  the  list 
of  birds  protected  by  it,  and  sometimes  he  goes 
farther  than  this  and  demands  that  a  reward  or 


66  Wild  Bird  Guests 

bounty  be  paid  by  the  state  for  every   hawk 
killed. 

The  foreigners  who  come  to  our  shores  from 
countries  where  people  are  not  taught  to  respect 
the  rights  of  birds,  are  another  great  menace 
to  our  feathered  neighbors,  especially  to  the  song 
birds.  The  lower  classes  of  Italians  are  among 
the  worst  of  these  offenders,  and  it  will  help 
us  to  understand  the  problem  if  we  glance  at 
conditions  in  their  own  country.  In  Italy  not 
even  song  birds  are  protected.  In  addition  to 
what  we  call  game  birds,  thrushes,  skylarks, 
goldfinches,  redstarts,  siskins,  crossbills,  wood- 
peckers, nuthatches,  titmice,  warblers,  and  scores 
of  others,  are  regarded  as  "game"  and  are  sold 
for  food  in  every  market  in  Italy.  As  shown 
in  the  case  of  birds  hunted  for  their  plumage, 
wherever  there  is  a  market  to  be  supplied,  there 
will  be  people  willing  to  supply  it,  and  through- 
out Italy  there  are  thousands  of  men  who  do 
nothing  else  but  catch  and  kill  song  birds  to  be 
eaten  by  their  fellow-countrymen.  Thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  are  offered  at  from  two 
cents  to  five  cents  apiece  threaded  on  strings  and 
sold  in  bunches  as  we  sell  beets  or  onions.  Most 
of  these  birds  are  brought  in  by  professional  bird- 
catchers.  Some  of  them  are  shot,  some  taken 
with  snares  or  bird  lime,  but  probably  by  far  the 


Destruction  by  Man  67 

\ 

greater  number  are  captured  in  nets  of  various 

kinds.  Many  of  these  nets  are  used  in  connec- 
tions with  what  are  known  as  roccolos,  permanent 
bird  traps  established  in  carefully  chosen  spots, 
often  situated  on  hillsides,  in  valleys,  along 
some  natural  migration  route.  Roccolos  vary 
in  size,  and  some  are  more  elaborate  than  others, 
but  the  essentials  are  a  clump  or  grove  of  trees 
to  invite  the  attention  of  passing  birds,  a  few 
little  songsters  to  call  and  make  the  place  appear 
homelike,  a  net  of  fine  threads  to  entangle  the 
victims  of  this  treachery,  and  the  fowler,  who  kills 
the  captured  birds  and  sells  them  to  be  eaten. 
The  fowler  or  keeper  of  the  roccolo  lives  close  by 
in  a  little  building  which  sometimes  takes  the 
form  of  a  tower  from  which  he  can  watch  the 
nets,  and  in  which  he  deposits  his  catch  in  a  pile 
on  the  floor. 

Hidden  from  view  by  the  screen  of  trees, 
hang  a  number  of  small  cages  containing  little 
birds  whose  eyes  have  been  burned  out  with 
red-hot  wires,  because  blind  birds  call  more 
often  than  those  which  can  see.  These  wretched 
little  prisoners  by  their  calls,  and  by  their  song, 
for  they  sing  too  at  times,  all  unknowingly  lure 
the  wild  birds  to  their  death.  If  birds  come  near, 
but  hesitate  on  the  outside  trees,  the  fowler,  by 
means  of  a  sort  of  raquet  thrown  through  the  air, 


68  Wild  Bird  Guests 

makes  a  sound  like  the  whistling  of  a  hawk's 
wings,  and  down  plunge  the  frightened  song 
birds  to  their  doom.  As  they  struggle  in  the  net, 
the  fowler  comes  forth  from  his  hidding  place, 
seizes  them  roughly,  kills  them  by  thrusting  a 
sharpened  stick  through  their  heads,  and  tosses 
their  pathetic  little  bodies  on  top  of  the  growing 
heap  on  the  floor  of  his  dwelling.  And  there 
are  hundreds  of  such  roccolos,  each  of  them 
destroying  thousands — many  of  them  tens  of 
thousands  of  birds  during  a  single  migration. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Italians  have  no  song 
birds  of  their  own?  This  terrible  trade  can  be 
carried  on  now  only  because  many  of  the  migra- 
tory birds  from  other  parts  of  Europe  come  down 
through  Italy  in  order  to  shorten  their  flight 
across  the  Mediterranean.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  ignorant  Italian  laborers,  fresh  from  a 
country  where  this  sort  of  thing  is  not  only 
permitted  but  encouraged,  should,  on  landing 
here,  make  themselves  a  set  of  snares  and  a  wad  of 
bird  lime,  buy  cheap  guns,  and  set  out  to  catch 
and  kill  anything  and  everything  that  wears 
feathers?  They  are  not  necessarily  either  bad 
or  lawless.  Many  of  them  land  in  this  country 
which  they  have  been  taught  is  the  freest  in  the 
world,  probably  never  doubting  that  they  have 
at  least  as  much  right  to  kill  things  here  as  they 


Destruction  by  Man  69 

had  in  Italy.  They  cannot  read  our  books  and 
papers  and  when  they  meet  a  game  warden  they 
do  not  know  who  he  is  nor  what  he  is  saying; 
they  only  understand  in  a  general  way  that  he  is 
trying  to  stop  them  from  doing  what  they  think 
they  have  a  perfect  right  to  do.  They  are 
naturally  hot-tempered  and  quick  to  resent  what 
they  believe  to  be  an  injustice,  and  serious  trouble 
for  the  game  warden  is  often  the  result.  I 
remember  a  few  years  ago,  watching  a  surgeon 
removing  shot  from  the  face  of  a  policeman  who 
had  been  shot  by  an  Italian  poacher  in  the 
Middlesex  Fells  Reservation,  near  Boston.  He 
had  chased  the  man,  who  deliberately  turned 
around  and  let  him  have  both  barrels.  I  am 
not  defending  the  Italian  shooter  of  song  birds. 
He  is  doing  wrong  and  we  must  absolutely  stop 
him,  but  we  shall  be  able  to  do  this  in  a  wiser, 
surer  way  if  we  understand  the  kind  of  man  we 
have  to  deal  with,  and  realize  that  he  is  not 
entirely  to  blame  for  his  attitude  toward  our 
wild  life.  In  another  chapter  I  shall  give  some 
suggestions  for  dealing  with  this  problem. 

The  negroes  and  poor-white  folks  of  our  south- 
ern states  are  even  worse  than  the  ignorant 
foreigners,  for  they  slaughter  our  song  birds,  not 
by  scores  but  by  hundreds  and  sometimes  by 
thousands.  Sad  to  say,  robins  and  other  songsters 


70  Wild  Bird  Guests 

are  still  ruthlessly  destroyed  in  many  of  on* 
southern  states.  They  are  killed  for  food  and 
the  negroes  and  poor  whites  supply  the  mar- 
kets. When  the  holly  berries  are  ripe,  the  robins 
gather  by  tens  of  thousands  to  feed  upon  them 
and  their  coming  is  the  signal  for  every  negro 
who  can  afford  a  three-dollar  gun  to  get  out 
and  shoot  them.  The  robins  are  also  very 
fond  of  cedar  berries,  and  during  the  winter 
months  where  these  are  plentiful,  they  gather 
in  immense  flocks.  The  fact  that  they  roost  in 
the  cedars  at  night,  makes  possible  another  form 
of  slaughter.  Men  and  boys  with  torches  each 
climb  a  tree  while  companions  with  poles  and 
clubs  disturb  the  robins  and  cause  them  to  fly 
about.  Dazzled  by  the  torches,  the  sleepy 
robins  fly  to  the  torch-bearer  who  kills  them  by 
either  pinching  their  necks  or  pulling  their  heads 
off,  and  drops  their  bodies  into  a  bag.  Three 
or  four  hundred  birds  represent  a  fair  night's 
work  for  a  man,  and  sometimes  there  are  a 
hundred  or  more  men  engaged.  The  contribu- 
tion of  a  single  southern  village  in  a  year  will 
sometimes  amount  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
birds  and  there  are  many  villages.  It  is  hardly 
to  be  wondered  at  if  we  fail  to  see  large  numbers 
of  robins  on  our  lawns  in  the  spring. 

The  ignorant  southern  negroes  are  a  problem 


Destruction  by  Man  71 

in  themselves.  In  the  nesting  season  or  out  of  it, 
it  makes  no  difference  to  them.  In  gangs,  large 
and  small,  armed  with  cheap  guns  and  followed 
by  mongrel  "bird"  dogs,  they  rake  the  country, 
killing  everything  that  flies  or  runs.  Worst  of 
all,  perhaps,  they  burn  over  large  tracts  of  land, 
destroying  the  natural  cover  for  the  birds,  mak- 
ing it  easy  to  pot  the  few  which  might  otherwise 
have  found  shelter  at  the  time,  and  preventing 
the  area  from  being  used  as  a  breeding  ground  or 
as  a  refuge  for  years  to  come.  Nevertheless, 
thanks  to  improved  laws,  to  campaigns  of  edu- 
cation, and  to  a  firmer  stand  taken  by  the  culti- 
vated people  of  the  South,  matters  are  much 
better  than  they  were  a  few  years  ago,  and  the 
outlook  for  the  future  is  hopeful. 

Lumber  camps  and  mining  camps  are  often 
responsible  for  the  local  extermination  of  certain 
birds.  When,  as  often  happens,  such  camps  are 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  a  large  town,  it  is 
difficult  and  expensive  to  supply  the  men  with 
fresh  beef,  mutton,  or  pork,  and  if  there  are  game 
birds  or  waterfowl  in  the  vicinity,  they  are  sure 
to  suffer.  Such  birds  are  killed  in  large  numbers 
not  only  to  supply  immediate  needs  but  for  fu- 
ture use,  so  that  when  an  opportunity  presents 
itself,  the  men  kill  all  they  can  get. 

A  great  deal  of  damage  has  been  done,  and  is 


72  Wild  Bird  Guests 

still  done  at  certain  times  and  places,  by  the 
small  boy  who  has  not  been  taught  a  proper  re- 
gard for  bird  life.  With  air  gun,  sling  shot,  trap, 
and  snare,  he  can  quickly  become  a  terror  to  the 
birds  within  walking  distance  of  his  home,  and 
if  he  adds  to  these  methods  of  destruction  the 
offense  of  taking  birds'  eggs,  he  can  increase  the 
destruction  many  fold.  Usually,  I  think,  it  is 
not  the  boy's  fault.  To  a  quite  natural  curiosity 
to  see  at  close  range  or  to  possess,  certain  beauti- 
ful things  which  have  attracted  his  attention,  is 
added  the  joy  of  proving  his  quickness  in  dis- 
covery, his  cleverness  in  outwitting,  or  his  skill 
in  capturing  or  killing  the  object  of  his  desire. 
His  curiosity  has  not  been  led  into  safer  channels ; 
he  has  not  been  shown  more  useful  ways  in 
which  to  prove  his  cleverness  and  skill. 

The  scientific  collector  of  birds  is  one  against 
whom  popular  indignation  is  often  directed  (or 
perhaps  I  should  say  misdirected),  because  he 
is  occasionally  seen  shooting  birds  which  other 
people  are  not  allowed  to  shoot.  I  do  not  collect 
birds  myself,  and  I  do  not  believe  in  permitting 
people  to  collect  birds  simply  because  they  would 
like  to  have  collections.  But  there  are  in  every 
state  certain  scientific  men  who  are  giving  a 
great  deal  of  time  to  the  study  of  birds  with  a 
view  to  adding  to  our  knowledge  of  ornithology 


Destruction  by  Man  73 

and  it  is  my  belief  that  these  men  should  be 
permitted  to  collect.  They  should,  I  think,  be 
allowed  to  take  such  birds  as  are  needed  and 
few  of  them  will  take  more  than  this.  I  am  ac- 
quainted with  many  collectors  and  most  of  them 
are  not  only  conscientious  gentlemen,  but  loyal 
supporters  of  the  cause  of  bird  protection. 
Some  of  them  do  not  shoot  more  than  a  bird  or 
two  a  year,  after  a  reasonable  working  collec- 
tion has  been  made.  I  know  one,  an  enthusiast, 
too,  who  has  shot  only  one  bird  in  two  years. 
One  market-hunter  will  kill  more  birds  than  all 
the  scientific  men  in  his  state,  put  together. 

BIRD   ENEMIES   FOR  WHICH  MAN   IS   CHIEFLY 
RESPONSIBLE 

In  addition  to  the  losses  which  man  inflicts 
on  birds  directly,  he  does  further  damage  in- 
directly through  the  activities  of  certain  animals 
for  whose  present  status  he  is  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  responsible.  Of  these,  far  and  away 
the  most  destructive  is  the  house  cat.  She  be- 
longs to  a  family  of  highly  carnivorous  animals, 
and  as  compared  with  the  dog  is  only  about  half 
domesticated.  Her  wonderful  body  is  specially 
designed  for  capturing  and  overpowering  crea- 
tures weaker  than  herself,  and  song  birds  seem 


74  Wild  Bird  Guests 

to  be  her  favorite  prey.  When  they  nest  in  the 
trees  or  shrubs,  or  on  arbors  in  the  garden,  her 
wonderful  ability  as  a  climber  enables  her  to 
invade  their  nests.  When  they  come  to  the 
ground  for  food  or  water,  she  lies  in  wait  and 
springs  upon  them.  She  hunts  by  day  and  by 
night,  and  when  she  is  abroad  there  are  few 
places  where  birds  are  safe. 

Mr.  Chapman,  America's  best-known  orni- 
thologist and  a  most  careful  and  accurate  writer, 
says :  "  In  our  own  opinion  there  are  not  less  than 
twenty-five  million  cats  in  the  United  States,  and 
there  may  be  twice  that  number.  A  house  cat 
has  been  known  to  kill  fifty  birds  in  a  season  and 
a  naturalist,  than  whom  none  is  better  qualified 
to  judge,  believes  that  five  hundred  thousand 
birds  are  annually  killed  by  cats  in  New  England 
alone !  Apply  these  figures  to  the  cats  and  the 
country  at  large,  and  the  result  is  appalling!" 

Mabel  Osgood  Wright,  president  of  the  Con- 
necticut Audubon  Society,  and  author  of  Bird 
Craft,  Citizen  Bird,  and  other  works,  who  has  had 
a  wide  experience  with  both  birds  and  cats,  as- 
sures us  that  "the  evidence  of  men  and  women 
whose  words  are  incontestable  would  verify  my 
most  radical  statement,  but  one  fact  is  beyond 
dispute — if  the  people  of  the  country  insist  on 
keeping  cats  in  the  same  numbers  as  at  pres- 


" .  v  m       *.'•  ••!&  : 


Destruction  by  Man  75 

ent,  all  the  splendid  work  of  Federal  and  State 
legislation,  all  the  labors  of  game  and  song  bird 
protective  associations,  all  the  loving  care  of 
individuals  in  watching  and  feeding,  will  not  be 
able  to  save  our  native  birds  in  many  localities." 

Edward  Howe  Forbush,  State  Ornithologist 
of  Massachusetts,  a  careful  writer  who  is  always 
sure  of  his  ground,  tells  us  of  the  situation  in  his 
own  state.  "Nearly  a  hundred  correspondents 
scattered  through  all  the  counties  of  the  state 
report  the  cat  as  one  of  the  greatest  enemies  of 
the  birds.  The  reports  that  have  come  in  of  the 
torturing  and  killing  of  birds  by  cats  are  abso- 
lutely sickening.  The  number  of  birds  killed  by 
them  in  this  state  is  appalling.  It  is  quite  true, 
however,  that  some  cats  do  not  kill  many  birds, 
and  that  some  intelligent  or  high-bred  cats  may 
be  taught  not  to  kill  any.  Some  cat-lovers  be- 
lieve that  each  cat  kills  on  the  average  not  more 
than  ten  birds  a  year;  but  I  have  learned  of  two 
instances  where  more  than  that  number  were 
killed  in  a  single  day,  and  another  where  seven 
were  killed.  If  we  assume,  however,  that  the 
average  cat  on  the  farm  kills  but  ten  birds  in  a 
year,  and  that  there  is  one  cat  on  each  farm 
in  Massachusetts,  we  have  in  round  numbers, 
70,000  cats  killing  700,000  birds  annually. " 

With  the  material  at  hand  it  would  be  a  simple 


76  Wild  Bird  Guests 

matter  for  the  writer  to  fill  a  book  with  the  testi- 
mony of  conservative  people — naturalists,  game 
wardens,  owners  of  bird  sanctuaries,  yes,  and 
avowed  cat-lovers,  too — all  pointing  to  the  fact 
that  cats,  despite  their  wonderful  beauty  of  form 
and  movement,  and  their  many  charming  ways, 
are  among  the  most  cruel  and  destructive  of  all 
bird  enemies.  The  writer  himself  has  seen  not  a 
little  of  this  destructive  work  on  the  part  of  cats 
— his  own  and  others.  He  was  a  cat-lover  once, 
owned  seven  attractive  cats,  and  knows  all  their 
lovable  attributes  from  amiability  to  wistfulness. 
But  they  were  seen  devouring  young  birds  in 
their  nests  before  the  eyes  of  their  grief-frantic 
parents ;  they  were  seen  torturing  terror-stricken 
adult  birds  for  which  they  had  lain  in  wait,  and 
when  their  owner  made  up  his  mind  that  this 
sort  of  thing  would  go  on  as  long  as  they  lived, 
death,  swift  and  painless,  removed  them  from 
their  feather-strewn  path. 

The  most  destructive  cats,  as  a  rule,  are  those 
which  either  have  no  owners  or  whose  owners  so 
neglect  them  that  they  are  obliged  to  forage  for 
themselves.  And  these  constitute  a  very  large 
proportion  of  our  cat  population.  Among  them 
are  the  so-called  "tramp"  cats  and  "stray"  cats, 
with  which  many  parts  of  our  country  are  over- 
run. In  the  city  of  New  York  alone  the  Society 


Destruction  by  Man  77 

for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  de- 
stroys over  fifty  thousand  homeless  cats  a  year, 
and  it  is  a  disgrace  to  that  wonderful  city 
that  the  conditions  which  make  such  destruction 
necessary,  are  permitted  to  exist.  In  a  later 
chapter  will  be  given  some  suggestions  look- 
ing to  the  possible  solution  of  this  very  serious 
problem. 

Badly  trained  dogs  also,  at  certain  times  and 
places,  are  destructive  to  birds.  This  is  some- 
times true  of  dogs  belonging  to  people  living  on 
islands  or  on  the  coast,  and  allowed  to  range  over 
the  breeding  grounds  of  sea-birds.  When  not 
under  proper  control  such  dogs  are  apt  to  get  the 
habit  of  chasing  the  birds  and  of  driving  them 
off  their  nests  and  sometimes  they  will  eat  the 
eggs  or  young.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Townsend  tells 
me  that  the  Esquimau  dogs  of  Labrador,  which 
in  summer  are  turned  loose  to  forage  for  them- 
selves, are  often  destructive  to  bird  life  and 
probably  eat  the  eggs  and  young  of  all  species 
which  they  find  nesting  on  the  ground. 

Pigs,  if  not  actually  born  with  a  taste  for  eggs 
and  nestlings,  soon  acquire  one,  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  they  never  fail  to  devour  such  delicacies 
when  an  opportunity  presents  itself.  If  given 
free  access  to  a  colony  of  birds  which  nest  on  the 
ground,  pigs  will  gobble  up  the  contents  of  every 


78  Wild  Bird  Guests 

nest.  It  is  said  that  pigs  were  the  chief  cause  of 
the  extinction  of  the  dodo,  a  large  flightless  bird 
which  inhabited  the  Island  of  Mauritius. 

Man  is  also  responsible  for  the  presence,  in 
this  country,  at  least,  of  the  European  sparrow 
and  the  European  starling.  The  first  is,  and 
has  been  for  many  years,  a  well-known  pest,  and 
a  serious  enemy  of  our  native  song  birds.  Un- 
fortunately its  bad  character  and  offensive 
habits  are  too  well  known  to  require  description 
in  detail.  Hardy  and  pugnacious  and  present  in 
numbers  that  would  baffle  a  census-taker,  spar- 
rows often  attack  and  kill  our  smaller  native  birds. 
They  can  make  their  bulky  nests  almost  any- 
where, but  seem  to  prefer  nest  boxes  when  these 
are  to  be  had.  In  many  localities  by  reason  of 
their  great  numbers,  they  will  occupy  all  the 
nest  boxes  with  entrance  holes  large  enough  to 
admit  them,  to  the  exclusion  of  bluebirds,  tree 
swallows,  and  other  more  desirable  tenants.  So 
the  latter  are  often  forced  to  leave  the  little 
homes  which  we  have  put  up  on  purpose  for 
them — leave  their  favorite  haunts  in  our  gardens 
and  orchards,  and  take  their  chances  of  finding 
nesting  sites  away  off  in  the  wilderness  perhaps. 

In  the  summer,  when  we  put  out  bird  baths  for 
our  thirsty  song  birds,  down  come  the  sparrows 
and  nothing  else  in  feathers  can  get  near  the 


Destruction  by  Man  79 

water.  In  the  winter  when  we  attempt  to  feed 
our  native  birds,  the  sparrows  come  in  hordes  to 
the  exclusion  of  practically  all  other  species.  The 
end  of  it  is  that  thousands  of  people  who  are 
anxious  to  do  something  to  help  our  native 
birds,  become  discouraged  when  they  find  that 
the  chief  result  of  their  efforts  is  an  increase  in 
the  size  of  the  local  flock  of  sparrows. 

If  the  European  sparrows  were  very  useful 
birds  or  fine  songsters,  or  if  they  had  unusually 
beautiful  plumage,  there  would  be  some  com- 
pensation for  the  dearth  of  native  birds  which 
they  create.  But  sad  to  say,  usually  they  are 
neither  useful  nor  ornamental.  On  the  contrary 
they  are  often  very  destructive.  As  Mr.  Ned 
Dearborn  points  out  in  his  Farmers9  Bulletin, 
"The  English  Sparrow  as  a  Pest":  "It  destroys 
fruit,  as  cherries,  grapes,  pears,  and  peaches. 
It  also  destroys  buds  and  flowers  of  cultivated 
trees,  shrubs,  and  vines.  In  the  garden  it  eats 
seeds  as  they  ripen,  and  nips  off  tender  young 
vegetables,  especially  peas  and  lettuce  as  they 
appear  above  the  ground.  It  damages  wheat 
and  other  grains,  whether  newly  sown,  ripening, 
or  in  shocks.  As  a  flock  of  fifty  sparrows  re- 
quires daily  the  equivalent  of  a  quart  of  wheat, 
the  annual  loss  caused  by  these  birds  throughout 
the  country  is  very  great. " 


8o  Wild  Bird  Guests 

A  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject  by 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  shows  that  while 
European  Sparrows  do  a  certain  amount  of  good 
by  the  destruction  of  insects  in  summer  and  of 
weed  seeds  in  the  fall  and  winter,  they  do  such  a 
vast  amount  of  damage  that  there  is  compara- 
tively little  to  be  said  in  their  favor. 

The  European  starling  threatens  to  create 
another  problem  for  the  American  bird  lover. 
Less  than  twenty  years  ago  the  range  of  the 
starling  in  this  country  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  New  York  City.  Now  the  bird 
has  overrun  or  rather  overflown  all  the  surround- 
ing states,  and  may  be  seen  in  large  flocks  at  all 
seasons.  Its  economic  status  has  not  been  fully 
determined  yet,  but  from  what  I  can  learn  it 
seems  to  be  a  more  useful  bird  than  the  European 
sparrow.  It  is  certainly  more  pleasing  to  look 
at,  it  has  a  more  pleasant  voice  and  it  is  com- 
paratively clean  and  dainty  in  its  habits.  Being 
partial  to  nest  boxes,  no  doubt  it  would  crowd 
out  our  native  birds  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
many  of  them,  having  smaller  bodies,  can  use 
entrance  holes  through  which  the  foreign  bird 
cannot  pass.  So  let  us  cheer  up;  the  worst  is 
already  here. 


CHAPTER  V 

ECONOMIC  REASONS   FOR  PROTECTING  THE    BIRDS 

IF  the  farmers  once  realize  what  powerful 
friends  they  have  in  the  wild  birds,  they  will  be 
the  best  bird  protectors  on  earth.  They  will 
band  together  and  see  to  it  that  no  one  is  allowed 
to  cut  down  their  incomes  by  destroying  the 
most  valuable  allies  they  have  in  their  fight 
against  their  enemies  the  weeds,  the  harmful 
insects,  and  the  harmful  rodents.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  at  Washington,  after  a 
careful  study  of  the  question,  tells  us  that  the 
annual  loss  to  the  farmers  of  this  country  from 
the  attacks  of  insect  and  rodent  pests  alone,  is 
about  a  billion  dollars.  This  means  a  loss  of 
about  a  dollar  a  month  for  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  in  the  United  States.  The  loss  occa- 
sioned by  the  enormous  amount  of  labor  re- 
quired to  battle  with  even  partial  success  against 
the  weeds  which  everywhere  threaten  the  crops, 
is  also  very  great.  But  the  farmer's  loss  is  by 
no  means  his  alone;  we  must  all  share  it,  whether 

6  8l 


82  Wild  Bird  Guests 

we  wish  to  or  not,  for  we  all  eat  what  the  farmer 
grows,  and  whatever  loss  he  sustains  by  having 
a  part  of  his  crops  destroyed,  whether  it  be  by 
drought  or  insects,  by  floods  or  wild  mice,  by 
storm  or  choking  weeds,  we  must  share  by  paying 
higher  prices  for  what  is  left.  So  we  should  all 
be  very  much  interested  when  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  goes  on  to  tell  us  that  birds  con- 
stitute the  principal  check  upon  the  weeds  and 
insects  and  rodents  which  cause  this  tremendous 
loss  every  year.  And  we  may  accept  the  state- 
ments of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  on  this 
subject  with  absolute  confidence,  because  they 
are'not  the  result  of  guesswork  or  of  prejudice, 
but  the  result  of  careful  investigation  on  the 
part  of  scientific  men  who  are  giving  their  lives, 
not  to  prove  that  birds  are  either  beneficial  or 
the  reverse,  but  to  learn  the  truth  about  birds, 
whatever  that  may  be.  For  example,  if  Dr. 
A.  K.  Fisher  tells  us  that  at  least  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  the  food  of  the  short-eared  owl  con- 
sists of  mice,  we  can  be  as  sure  of  it  as  that 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  a  dollar  is  seventy-five 
cents.  You  may  be  certain  that  Dr.  Fisher  has 
taken  nothing  for  granted.  He  has  examined 
hundreds  of  owl  pellets  and  the  stomachs  of 
hundreds  of  owls,  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  has  reserved 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      83 

his  opinion  until  he  is  sure  that  no  further  evi- 
dence will  cause  it  to  be  reversed. 

When  Mr.  F.  E.  L.  Beal  states  that  fifty-- 
three per  cent,  of  the  rusty  blackbird's  food  con- 
sists of  animal  food,  chiefly  noxious  insects,  he  is 
not  guessing  either.  He  shows  you  a  table  which 
he  has  prepared  after  the  careful  examination 
of  the  stomachs  of  many  blackbirds.  There  you 
can  see  at  a  glance  what  kinds  of  food  and  the 
proportions  of  each,  which  the  birds  eat  during 
every  season  of  the  year.  And  you  can  see  also 
that  bad  deeds  are  recorded  as  carefully  as  good 
ones,  and  that  when  practically  nothing  but  grain 
is  eaten,  the  table  shows  it. 

And  when  Dr.  Sylvester  D.  Judd  expresses 
an  opinion  on  the  food  of  sparrows,  he  has  based 
that  opinion  on  the  contents  of  the  stomachs  of 
between  four  thousand  and  five  thousand  spar- 
rows; and  so  if  he  tells  us,  as  he  does,  that  dur- 
ing the  colder  half  of  the  year,  the  seeds  of  smart 
weed,  bird  weed,  pigeon  grass,  pig  weed,  lamb's 
quarters,  ragweed,  crab  grass,  and  other  seeds, 
form  four-fifths  of  the  food  of  song  sparrows, 
we  may  accept  the  statement  as  a  fact. 

Of  course  I  am  aware  that  the  subject  of  the 
economic  value  of  birds,  when  taken  up  in  detail, 
is  very  complex,  and  that  the  questions  involved 
are  not  always  easy  to  answer.  Some  birds,  like 


84  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  yellow-bellied  sapsucker,  which  is  said  to 
damage  the  trees  to  the  extent  of  $2,250,000 
annually,  and  the  sharp-shinned  and  Cooper's 
hawks,  which  live  almost  exclusively  on  poultry 
and  useful  wild  birds,  are  easy  to  place  in  the 
destructive  class.  Others,  like  our  cuckoos, 
which  feed  on  destructive  hairy  caterpillars  and 
other  noxious  creatures;  and  tree  sparrows, 
which  devote  themselves  chiefly  to  the  gathering 
of  weed  seeds,  are  as  easy  to  place  in  the  bene- 
ficial class.  But  in  between  we  have  many  birds 
not  so  easy  to  place.  For  example,  the  bobolink, 
which  is  beneficial  in  the  north,  where  it  feeds 
mainly  on  insects,  is  very  destructive  in  the 
south,  where  it  works  havoc  in  the  rice  fields. 
The  great  horned  owl  is  very  useful  in  the  west, 
where  agriculture  is  the  chief  occupation  and 
where  the  bird  destroys  vast  numbers  of  gophers, 
ground  squirrels,  and  other  pests;  but  in  the  east 
where  the  population  is  denser  and  where  there 
is  more  poultry  raising,  this  owl  sometimes  gets 
himself  very  much  disliked  by  killing  hens  and 
turkeys.  Sometimes  birds  whose  value  may  not 
be  very  apparent  under  normal  conditions,  come 
to  the  front  at  the  time  of  a  plague  of  insects  or 
rodents,  and  perform  invaluable  service.  For 
instance,  when  the  Mormons  first  settled  Utah, 
they  were  threatened  with  ruin  by  the  millions 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      85 

of  black  crickets  which  came  down  upon  their 
grain  fields  and  swept  them  as  clean  as  though 
they  had  been  burned  with  fire.  The  first  year's 
crop  was  thus  destroyed.  With  characteristic 
courage  next  year  the  Mormons  sowed  their 
seed  again,  but  no  sooner  did  the  crops  give 
promise  of  a  bountiful  yield,  when  again  came 
the  black  crickets,  bringing  dismay  to  the  settlers. 
But  just  at  this  juncture  a  wonderful  thing 
happened.  Suddenly,  and  seemingly  from  no- 
where in  particular,  came  a  great  avenging  army. 
Hundreds  and  thousands  of  Franklin  gulls 
poured  themselves  into  the  grain  fields  and 
annihilated  those  black  crickets  until  there 
wasn't  so  much  as  a  chirp  left.  It  looked  like 
a  miracle  from  Heaven  and  the  settlers  thought  it 
was.  And  the  grateful  Mormons  did  not  forget. 
The  gulls  have  been  protected  ever  since,  both 
by  law  and  sentiment,  and  recently  a  suitable 
monument  was  erected  in  Salt  Lake  City  in 
recognition  of  their  services. 

Certain  otherwise  beneficial  birds  complicate 
matters  by  devouring  predacious  beetles,  ich- 
neumon flies,  and  others  which  are  themselves 
useful  because  they  destroy  harmful  insects. 
But  then  again  these  predacious  insects  destroy 
some  useful  insects,  complicating  the  matter  still 
further,  and  making  it  extremely  difficult  to 


86  Wild  Bird  Guests 

determine  the  exact  economic  value  of  the  birds. 
However,  where  pains  have  been  taken  to  work 
out  the  interrelations  of  birds  and  predacious 
insects  the  evidence  obtained  seems  to  be  chiefly 
in  favor  of  the  birds,  and  at  least  until  a  more 
exhaustive  study  of  these  interrelations  results 
in  definitely  establishing  their  economic  status, 
we  should  give  such  birds  the  benfit  of  the  doubt. 

As  this  book  is  not  primarily  a  work  on  the 
value  of  birds,  that  subject  cannot  be  dealt  with 
exhaustively  here.  But  I  will  try  to  present 
to  the  reader  just  enough  evidence  to  leave  in  his 
mind  no  doubt  that  birds  as  a  class  are  not  only 
useful,  but  very  useful,  and  that  it  is  well  worth 
our  while,  even  from  a  selfish  standpoint  to 
protect  them  and  to  insist  upon  their  protection 
by  others. 

We  are  often  surprised  to  find  that  birds  which 
we  had  regarded  simply  as  beautiful  or  poetic 
are  very  useful  as  well.  As  we  have  seen  in  the 
case  of  the  plague  of  crickets  which  threatened 
to  ruin  the  Mormons,  gulls  can  do  more  than  add 
to  the  beauty  of  a  landscape.  Given  the  protec- 
tion they  deserve  they  become  valuable  allies 
of  the  farmers,  coming  with  terns  and  other 
birds  to  be  a  scourge  to  the  locusts  and  other 
insects  which  lessen  the  profits  of  farming. 
Eighty-four  locusts  have  been  found  in  the 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      87 

stomach  of  a  single  tern.  Sea-gulls  also  act  as 
scavengers,  cleansing  the  waters  of  our  harbors 
and  river  mouths  of  offal  and  other  refuse  which 
threaten  to  pollute  them.  And  they  are  not  the 
least  of  the  many  agencies  which  make  fertile 
and  habitable  what  would  otherwise  be  rocky  or 
sandy,  barren,  and  uninhabitable  islands.  Their 
rotting  nests  make  soil;  they  fertilize  it  with 
their  guano,  and  plant  in  it  seeds  which  they 
have  carried  from  afar  and  which  have  passed 
unharmed  through  their  digestive  tracts.  Doubt- 
less many  a  shipwrecked  sailor  owes  his  life 
to  the  unconscious  work  of  sea-birds.  And  as 
Forbush  points  out  they  often  save  the  manner 
from  shipwreck,  especially  in  foggy  summer 
weather.  At  such  times  the  presence  or  the 
clamorous  voices  of  sea-birds  in  great  numbers 
often  give  warning  of  the  presence  of  the  rocks 
or  islands  where  they  make  their  homes,  and  off- 
shore fishermen  receive  similar  warning  from  the 
unerring  flight  of  homeward-bound  gulls  and 
terns.  Chapman  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that 
Columbus,  facing  a  discouraged  and  mutinous 
crew,  might  never  have  discovered  America  had 
not  the  fall  flight  of  land  birds  passing  from  the 
Bermudas  to  the  Bahamas  and  Antilles,  been 
observed  by  the  mariners,  who  were  given  new 
courage  by  the  unwearied  and  joyous  songsters 


88  Wild  Bird  Guests 

which  alighted  in  the  rigging.  The  course  of  the 
vessel  was  changed,  the  flying  birds  were  made 
the  pilots,  and  the  voyage  was  thus  shortened  by 
two  hundred  miles  and  land  discovered. 

Few  of  us,  I  think,  would  look  to  the  great 
dignified,  slow-moving,  fish-eating  white  pelicans 
to  help  us  much  in  solving  our  insect  prob- 
lem, yet  at  times  they  devour  great  numbers  of 
locusts. 

The  ducks,  geese,  and  swans  are  of  value  to  us 
not  so  much  for  what  they  do  as  for  what  they 
are,  most  of  them  are  excellent  for  food,  and  if 
we  gave  them  reasonable  protection  instead  of 
permitting  them  to  be  slaughtered  wastefully, 
they  would  make  a  wonderful  and  perpetual 
addition  to  our  national  food  supply.  Under 
present  conditions  a  comparatively  few  people 
get  most  of  them,  and  they  are  growing  fewer  and 
fewer  in  numbers. 

Spoonbills,  ibises,  storks,  herons,  and  cranes 
are  all  more  or  less  useful  as  destroyers  of  in- 
sects, and  at  times,  such  as  when  insect  plagues 
threaten  the  crops  in  certain  regions,  the  services 
of  such  birds  may  prove  the  salvation  of  the 
farmers.  An  example  of  such  service  was  given 
some  years  ago  in  Australia  when  the  sheep 
industry  near  Ballarat  was  seriously  threatened 
by  a  swarm  of  locusts  which  was  devouring  the 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      89 

pasture.  Just  as  the  sheep  owners  began  to 
feel  that  they  would  be  obliged  to  sell  all  their 
sheep  to  save  them  from  starvation,  down  came 
flocks  of  spoonbills  and  cranes  which  with  the 
assistance  of  a  flock  of  starlings,  soon  completed 
the  destruction  of  the  locusts  and  saved  the  day. 

Herons,  of  course,  when  conditions  are  favor- 
able for  them,  destroy  a  good  many  fish;  but 
these  birds  are  so  picturesque  that,  save  in  very 
exceptional  cases,  it  will  do  us  good  to  make  some 
sacrifice  to  have  them  with  us.  A  stately  heron, 
fishing  on  the  edge  of  a  lonely  pool,  is  a  pleasant 
memory  to  be  cherished  through  life ;  a  dead  one 
upholstered  and  set  up  in  a  living-room  is  a 
perpetual  reproach. 

Many  of  the  sandpipers  and  curlews  are  fa- 
mous as  destroyers  of  insects,  and  the  smaller 
ones,  at  least,  should  be  spared  on  this  account. 
Professor  Samuel  Aughey,  whose  extensive  and 
painstaking  investigations  have  done  so  much  to 
make  us  appreciate  the  value  of  Nebraska  birds, 
once  took  from  the  stomachs  of  six  spotted 
sandpipers  233  insects,  ninety-one  of  which  were 
locusts.  The  farmer  lost  a  valuable  friend  when 
the  Esquimau  curlew  disappeared  and  he  will 
lose  another  if  the  upland  plover  passes,  as  it 
will  unless  given  powerful  protection  by  law  and 
sentiment.  This  bird  is  used  for  food,  but  is 


90  Wild  Bird  Guests 

infinitely  more  valuable  alive  than  dead.  It 
lives  very  largely  on  locusts,  and  when  these  are 
numerous  they  are  eaten  almost  exclusively. 

Quail  and  grouse  are  valuable  both  as  food  and 
as  destroyers  of  insects  and  weed  seeds.  The 
former,  at  least,  are  more  valuable  alive  than 
dead.  They  are  wonderful  destroyers  of  potato 
bugs,  and  if  encouraged  to  nest  in  the  fields  and 
fence  corners,  no  Paris  green  need  be  used  on  the 
potato  crops.  On  locusts  they  work  just  as  well. 
Professor  Aughey  found  in  the  stomachs  of 
twenty-one  quail,  539  of  these  insects,  an  average 
of  twenty-five  apiece,  and  that  only  a  part  of 
one  day's  work.  These  birds  also  eat  large 
numbers  of  chinch  bugs,  cotton  worms,  cotton- 
boll  weevils,  cucumber  beetles,  May  beetles, 
leaf  beetles,  clover-leaf  beetles,  corn-hill  bugs, 
wire  worms,  cutworms,  ants,  flies,  and  many 
other  insect  pests.  And  being  birds  of  good  size 
they  require  large  quantities  of  such  food.  As 
destroyers  of  weed  seed  they  stand  as  high  if  not 
higher.  Forbush  states  that  they  eat  the  seeds 
of  over  sixty  different  kinds  of  weeds,  those  of 
ragweed  seeming  to  be  the  favorite.  The  same 
authority  tells  us  that  "as  many  as  two  to  three 
hundred  seeds  of  smartweed,  five  hundred  of  the 
red  sorrel,  seven  hundred  of  the  three-seeded 
mercury,  and  one  thousand  of  the  ragweed  have 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      91 

been  eaten  at  a  meal."  Dr.  Judd  gives  even 
stronger  testimony  in  favor  of  these  birds  when 
he  tells  us  that  five  thousand  seeds  of  green 
foxtail  and  ten  thousand  of  pigweed  have  been 
found  in  a  single  bird.  He  estimates  that  from 
June  ist  to  August  ist  in  the  two  states  of  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  alone,  bobwhites  eat 
1341  tons  of  weed  seed  and  340  tons  of  insects. 
When  to  all  this  is  added  the  aesthetic  value  of 
this  gentle  bird,  whose  cheery  voice  thrills  all  to 
whom  it  is  familiar,  we  see  that  to  kill  a  quail 
and  serve  it  on  toast  is  to  realize  but  a  very 
small  part  of  what  it  is  really  worth. 

The  mourning  dove  which  we  see  everywhere 
through  the  Middle  West  and  which  all  day  long 
rises  in  little  flocks  as  our  train  passes  through  the 
fields,  rivals  even  the  bobwhite  as  a  destroyer  of 
weed  seeds.  Professor  King,  in  Wisconsin,  took 
from  the  stomach  of  a  single  dove  4016  seeds  of 
pigeon  grass,  and  from  the  stomach  of  another 
were  taken  7500  seeds  of  oxalis. 

I  confess  that  I  have  little  patience  with  the 
man  who  tries  to  tell  the  farmer  that  all  hawks 
and  owls  are  his  friends,  and  that  he  should  not 
shoot  one  under  any  circumstances.  He  should 
know  better  than  this  and  the  farmer  does  know 
better.  Such  sweeping  statements  not  only  fail 
to  convince  the  intelligent  farmer,  but  they  tend 


92  Wild  Bird  Guests 

to  make  him  discredit  the  truth  concerning  the 
birds  of  prey. 

Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher,  America's  greatest  authority 
on  our  hawks  and  owls,  divides  them  into  four 
classes,  as  follows: 

(1)  Species  wholly  beneficial. 
Rough-legged  hawk,  ferruginous  rough-leg  or 

squirrel  hawk,  and  the  four  kites — the  white- 
tailed  kite,  Mississippi  kite,  swallow-tailed  kite, 
and  everglade  kite. 

(2)  Species  chiefly  beneficial. 

Most  of  our  hawks  and  owls,  including: 
marsh  hawk,  Harris  hawk,  red-tailed  hawk, 
red-shouldered  hawk,  short-tailed  hawk,  white- 
tailed  hawk,  Swainson  hawk,  short-winged  hawk, 
broad-winged  hawk,  Mexican  black  hawk, 
Mexican  goshawk,  sparrow  hawk,  Audubon 
caracara,  barn  owl,  long-eared  owl,  short-eared 
owl,  great  gray  owl,  barred  owl,  western 
owl,  Richardson  owl,  Acadian  owl,  screech  owl, 
flammulated  screech  owl,  snowy  owl,  hawk  owl, 
burrowing  owl,  pigmy  owl,  ferruginous  pigmy 
owl,  and  elf  owl. 

(3)  Species  in  which  beneficial  and  harmful 
qualities  about  balance: 

Golden  eagle,  bald  eagle,  pigeon  hawk,  Rich- 
ardson hawk,  aplomado  falcon,  prairie  falcon, 
and  great  horned  owl. 


.  /Many  3$ tret  fy 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      93 

(4)  Species  which  are  harmful: 

The  gyrfalcons,  duck  hawk,  sharp-shinned 
hawk,  Cooper  hawk,  and  goshawk. 

To  the  average  farmer  the  most  surprising 
thing  about  the  above  lists  will  be  the  very  small 
number  of  species  which  are  positively  harmful. 
And  for  the  farmer  in  the  United  States  this  list 
grows  beautifully  smaller  when  we  take  from  it 
the  gyrfalcons,  which  are  northern  species  which 
seldom  enter  this  country;  when  we  remember 
that  the  duck  hawk  is  uncommon  except  in  the 
vicinity  of  large  bodies  of  water  and  that  his 
operations  are  conducted  chiefly  against  water- 
fowl, and  that  even  the  goshawk,  one  of  the  most 
destructive  of  birds,  is  rare  south  of  the  Canadian 
border  except  in  the  fall  and  winter.  This  leaves 
us  with  two  harmful  hawks,  Cooper's  and  the 
sharp-shinned  hawk,  and  as  I  have  already,  in 
the  chapter  on  the  natural  enemies  of  birds, 
spoken  of  the  misdeeds  of  these  two,  it  will  not 
be  necessary  to  say  any  more  about  them. 

Naturally  it  is  not  possible  here  to  go  into 
details  concerning  the  feeding  habits  of  a  large 
number  of  birds  of  prey,  but  I  will  try,  by  giving 
a  few  examples,  to  show  why  these  birds,  as  a 
class,  are  beneficial,  and  why,  therefore,  most  of 
them  should  be  protected. 

First  in  order  come  the  vultures,  which  are 


94  Wild  Bird  Guests 

almost  wholly  beneficial.  The  turkey  buzzard 
and  the  black  vulture  of  our  southern  states 
render  valuable  service  as  scavengers.  Flying 
at  great  heights  and  endowed  with  wonderful 
powers  of  vision,  they  quickly  find  and  devour 
carcasses  and  other  decaying  animal  matter,  and 
thus  prevent  it  from  becoming  a  menace  to 
health. 

The  hawks  come  next  and  I  will  begin  with 
the  red-tailed  hawk,  whose  appearance  in  any 
locality  is  almost  sure  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  farmer,  and  which  is  among  the  birds  most 
frequently  shot  for  a  "chicken  hawk."  As  the 
range  of  this  bird  covers  the  whole  United 
States,  if  chickens  constituted  any  large  propor- 
tion of  its  food,  it  would  surely  be  a  great  enemy 
of  the  poultry  keeper.  Fortunately,  however, 
its  principal  food  consists  of  mice,  with  a  fair 
proportion  of  shrews,  rats,  squirrels,  gophers, 
rabbits,  grasshoppers,  beetles,  frogs,  snakes,  and 
crayfish.  Poultry  is  occasionally  taken,  and  a 
few  birds  are  on  the  list,  but  the  great  good  which 
this  hawk  does  by  destroying  rodent  pests,  pays 
many  times  over  for  the  occasional  chicken  or 
song  bird  taken  when  perhaps  the  mouse-hunting 
is  poor.  How  far  the  good  deeds  of  this  hawk 
outweigh  its  bad  ones,  may  be  seen  when  we  learn 
from  Dr.  Fisher  that  out  of  562  stomachs  ex- 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      95 

amined,  54  contained  poultry  or  game  birds; 
51,  other  birds;  278,  mice;  131,  other  rodents; 
37,  frogs,  toads,  and  snakes;  47,  insects;  8,  cray- 
fish; i,  centipede;  13,  offal,  and  89  were  empty. 

The  red-shouldered  hawk,  another  large 
species,  which  is  a  bird  of  eastern  North  Amer- 
ica only,  is  even  more  beneficial  in  proportion 
to  the  size  of  its  range.  Though  it  is  continually 
persecuted  as  a  poultry  thief,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  hardly  ever  touches  poultry  and  most  of  the 
very  few  wild  birds  which  it  kills  are  possibly 
sick  or  decrepit  ones.  On  the  other  hand  this 
splendid  bird  wages  an  unceasing  warfare  on 
mice  and  many  kinds  of  injurious  insects,  and 
the  balance  of  its  food  consists  chiefly  of  frogs, 
toads,  and  snakes.  Though  I  have  on  several 
occasions  closely  observed  red-shouldered  hawks 
from  the  time  their  eggs  were  hatched  until  the 
young  flew  away,  I  have  never  seen  one  carry 
a  chicken  or  in  fact  a  bird  of  any  kind  to  its 
young.  I  once  reared  two  of  these  hawks  in  a 
poultry  yard,  actually  confining  them  with  the 
poultry  for  two  months,  and  though  they  were 
not  overfed,  they  never  in  a  single  instance  even 
showed  an  inclination  to  molest  the  poultry. 

Perhaps  the  most  beneficial  of  all  is  the 
marsh  hawk,  because  it  is  not  only  a  useful  bird, 
but  also  has  a  very  wide  range,  being  found  in 


96  Wild  Bird  Guests 

practically  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  As  its  name  would  imply,  it  is  a  bird 
of  the  open  country  and  it  makes  its  nest  on  the 
ground  in  the  marshes.  Flying  low,  and  with 
slow-beating  wings,  this  large  bird  tacks  tirelessly 
back  and  forth  over  the  country,  sweeping  the 
ground  with  its  keen  eyes  for  the  mice  and  other 
small  rodents  which  form  the  principal  part  of 
its  food.  Dr.  Fisher  tells  us  that  of  124  stomachs 
examined,  7  contained  poultry  or  game  birds, 
34,  other  birds,  57,  mice ;  22,  other  rodents ;  7, 
reptiles;  2,  frogs;  14,  insects;  i,  indeterminate 
matter,  and  8  were  empty.  In  some  of  these 
stomachs  there  were  as  many  as  four,  five,  and 
even  eight  meadow  mice,  and  when  we  consider 
the  extreme  rapidity  with  which  birds  digest  their 
food,  we  realize  that  these  stomach  contents  do 
not  begin  to  represent  the  entire  work  of  the 
day  on  which  they  were  shot.  And  again  when 
we  consider  that  marsh  hawks  rear  from  four  to 
six  young,  and  that  these  remain  in  the  nest  for 
several  weeks,  that  young  hawks  are  proverbially 
ravenous,  and  that  during  the  latter  part  of  their 
stay  in  the  nest  they  eat  even  more  than  adult 
birds,  we  begin  to  get  some  faint  idea  of  the 
number  of  mice  and  insects  which  their  parents 
must  destroy  each  day  in  order  to  provide  food 
for  the  entire  family. 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      97 

As  eight  meadow  mice  have  been  found  in 
the  stomach  of  a  single  marsh  hawk,  and  as  this 
probably  represented  but  a  part  of  the  day's 
food  supply,  it  would  not  be  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  each  marsh  hawk  destroyed  at 
least  eight  mice  or  their  equivalent  in  other 
harmful  creatures  every  day  to  supply  its  own 
needs.  But  in  order  to  be  well  within  bounds 
let  us  cut  this  number  in  two,  and  suppose  that 
each  hawk  kills  but  four  meadow  mice  each  day 
— a  number  probably  quite  insufficient  to  keep 
such  a  large,  active  bird  in  good  condition. 
This  would  mean  that  a  pair  of  these  hawks 
would  destroy  eight  mice  in  a  day,  or  2920  mice 
in  a  year.  It  has  been  estimated  that  each 
meadow  mouse  on  a  farm  causes  an  annual  loss 
to  the  farmer  of  at  least  two  cents,  by  destroying 
grass  roots,  tubers,  grain,  and  young  fruit  trees — 
a  very  conservative  estimate  it  would  seem. 
The  destruction  of  2920  mice  then,  would  save 
the  farmer  $58.40.  In  other  words  it  puts  into 
his  pocket  $58.40,  which  but  for  the  hawks  would 
have  been  eaten  up  by  mice.  Now,  it  is  an 
exceptionally  good  cow  which  gives  an  annual 
return  as  large  as  that,  and  a  farmer  owning  such 
a  cow  would  be  very  careful  not  to  shoot  her  by 
mistake  for  some  harmful  animal ;  yet  that  same 
farmer  will,  without  a  moment's  hesitation, 


98  Wild  Bird  Guests 

shoot  these  valuable  hawks,  because  hawks  of 
an  entirely  different  species  have  at  some  time 
carried  off  his  chickens. 

Owls,  as  a  class,  are  even  more  beneficial 
than  the  hawks.  They  constitute  what  might 
be  termed  "the  night  shift"  of  the  pest-killing 
forces,  coming  on  about  dusk,  and  continuing 
their  work  until  dawn,  when  the  hawks  again 
take  up  the  good  work.  Having  very  acute 
hearing,  and  also  wonderful  powers  of  vision, 
which  are,  in  most  species,  keenest  in  the  dusk, 
they  are  able  to  capture  many  nocturnal  animals 
which  are  passed  over  by  the  hawks.  Mice  and 
rats,  moles  and  shrews,  rabbits,  squirrels,  gophers, 
and  prairie  dogs,  besides  many  kinds  of  injurious 
insects,  constitute  the  principal  food  of  our  owls. 
As  Dr.  Fisher  has  pointed  out  there  are  some 
owls  which  are  not  wholly  beneficial.  Certain 
species,  when  opportunity  offers,  are  destructive 
to  poultry.  There  is  this  to  be  said,  however, 
that  if  poultry  is  properly  housed  at  night  there 
is  little  to  fear  from  owls. 

The  barn  owl,  chiefly  a  southern  species,  is  one 
of  the  most  useful  of  all  birds.  It  lives  almost 
exclusively  on  small  mammals,  principally  de- 
structive ones.  Fisher  says  that  in  the  South 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  States  it  feeds  extensively  on 
the  cotton  rat,  and  that  the  common  rat  also 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection      99 

is  greedily  devoured.  He  once  examined  two 
hundred  pellets  taken  from  the  nesting  site  of 
a  pair  of  these  owls  in  one  of  the  towers  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  In  these  pellets  he 
found  454  skulls,  of  which  225  were  those  of 
meadow  mice,  2  of  pine  mice,  179  of  house  mice, 
20  of  rats,  6  of  jumping  mice,  20  of  shrews,  i  of 
a  star-nosed  mole,  and  i  of  a  vesper  sparrow.  In 
the  retreat  of  another  pair  of  these  birds  were 
found  more  than  three  thousand  skulls,  97  per 
cent,  of  which  were  those  of  mammals,  chiefly 
field  mice,  house  mice,  and  common  rats.  And 
all  this  splendid  work  was  done  without  the  cost 
of  one  penny  to  anyone. 

Best  known  perhaps  of  all  our  nocturnal  birds 
of  prey,  is  the  little  screech  owl,  a  bird  whose 
range  covers  the  whole  of  the  United  States  and 
the  southern  portions  of  Canada.  The  farmer 
who  kills  this  useful  little  bird,  or  permits  any- 
one else  on  his  farm  to  kill  it,  is  woefully  negligent 
of  his  own  interests.  During  the  day  there  is 
no  sign  of  its  presence,  but  at  dusk  it  suddenly 
appears  in  the  entrance  of  its  hiding  place — a 
hollow  apple  tree,  or  a  hole  in  some  outbuild- 
ing perhaps — and  without  the  slightest  sound  it 
passes  into  the  air.  Silent  as  a  puff  of  smoke,  it 
drifts  through  the  orchard,  over  the  barnyard, 
and  around  the  corn  ricks,  with  bright  eyes  wide 


ioo  Wild  Bird  Guests 

open,  and  sharp  talons  ready  to  snuff  out  the 
lives  of  the  thieving  mice  or  rats.  This  little 
fellow  may  often  be  induced  to  take  up  his 
residence  on  a  given  farm,  if  a  suitable  nest  box 
is  put  up  for  him  in  the  orchard.  There  are 
several  such  nest  boxes  in  this  village  and  I  know 
of  at  least  two  which  are  occupied  by  screech 
owls.  One  of  them  is  on  an  apple  tree  in  my 
own  orchard,  and  when  I  found  the  owl,  I  found 
in  the  box  beside  him,  half  a  very  large  black  rat, 
and  several  pellets  containing  the  bones  and  fur 
of  meadow  mice. 

If  space  permitted,  we  might  go  on  through  the 
whole  long  list  and  continue  to  prove  by  indis- 
putable evidence  that  most  hawks  and  owls  are 
of  great  value  to  the  men  to  whom  the  presence 
of  rats  and  mice  and  gophers  and  other  rodents 
means  a  money  loss.  But  even  from  the  above 
facts,  I  think  it  will  be  seen  that  in  most  birds 
of  prey  the  farmer  has  powerful  allies  who  should 
be  encouraged  in  every  way  possible  and  made  to 
feel  that  they  are  never  so  safe  as  when  they  are 
on  the  farm. 

The  cuckoos  of  which  we  have  two  species, 
the  black-billed  and  the  yellow-billed,  are  among 
our  most  valuable  destroyers  of  insects.  They 
make  a  specialty  of  hairy  caterpillars  and  are 
among  the  best  checks  upon  the  destructive 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     101 

tent-caterpillar.  Weed  and  Dearborn  point  out 
that  they  are  unique  in  that  they  have  a  taste 
for  stink  bugs,  hairy  caterpillars,  and  poisonous 
spiny  larvae  which  most  other  birds  reject. 
They  are  among  the  most  persistent  enemies  of 
the  caterpillars  of  the  brown-tail  and  gypsy 
moths,  and  are  said  to  kill  many  more  than  they 
can  eat.  Professor  Beal  states  that  from  the 
stomachs  of  121  cuckoos,  were  taken  2771  cater- 
pillars, and  Doctor  Otto  Lugger  found  several 
hundred  small  ones  in  the  stomach  of  a  single 
bird.  A  cuckoo  shot  in  Washington  some  years 
ago  was  found  to  have  eaten  250  half-grown  web- 
worms,  one  large  cerambycid  beetle  and  its  eggs, 
one  large  plant  bug,  and  a  snail. 

Most  woodpeckers  are  highly  beneficial,  spend- 
ing their  lives  chiefly  in  the  destruction  of  insects 
which,  if  they  were  not  kept  in  check  would 
quickly  kill  the  trees  which  they  infest.  Some 
species,  like  the  ivory-billed  and  pileated  wood- 
peckers, spend  most  of  their  time  in  the  deep 
solitary  woods;  others  like  the  hairy  and  downy, 
divide  their  time  between  the  woodland,  the 
shade  trees,  and  the  orchards;  while  one,  the 
flicker,  lives  much  of  his  life  in  the  open,  and  gets 
a  large  part  of  his  food  on  the  ground.  Wild 
fruits  and  berries  are  eaten  more  or  less  by  most 
woodpeckers,  but  their  principal  food  is  insects. 


IO2  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Here  again  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  a  few 
examples.  The  downy  woodpecker,  which  has 
a  wide  range  and  which  is  known  to  all  of  us,  is 
one  of  the  most  useful  members  of  this  useful 
family.  We  need  only  watch  him  for  a  while  as 
he  works  in  our  fruit  and  shade  trees,  to  realize 
this,  but  as  some  of  us  haven't  the  time  to  prove 
it  for  ourselves,  it  is  well  to  know  that  specialists 
have  already  proved  it  for  us.  From  the  contents 
of  140  stomachs  examined  by  the  U.  S.  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  it  is  shown  that  three- 
fourths  of  the  downy's  food  consists  of  insects. 
Seventeen  specimens  examined  in  Wisconsin  were 
found  to  have  eaten  40  insect  larvae,  including 
20  wood-boring  grubs,  3  caterpillars,  7  ants,  4 
beetles,  i  chrysalid,  no  small  bugs,  and  a  spider; 
also  a  few  acorns  and  small  seeds,  and  a  little 
woody  fiber  which  had  probably  been  taken  in 
accidentally  with  the  food.  Fanny  Hardy  Eck- 
storm,  in  her  charming  little  book,  The  Wood- 
peckers, says  of  him :  "  Downy  works  at  his  self- 
appointed  task  in  our  orchards,  summer  and 
winter,  as  regular  as  a  policeman  on  his  beat. 
But  he  is  much  better  than  a  policeman,  for  he 
acts  as  judge,  jury,  jailer,  and  jail.  All  the  evi- 
dence he  asks  against  an  insect  is  to  find  him 
loafing  about  the  premises. "  The  hairy  wood- 
pecker is  simply  a  larger  edition  of  the  downy, 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     103 

and  his  feeding  habits  are  similar.  Most  of 
his  food  consists  of  insects,  and  four  specimens 
examined  by  Professor  Aughey  in  Nebraska 
contained  157  grasshoppers. 

Night  hawks  and  whippoorwills  are  policemen 
of  the  air,  and  are  especially  useful  in  that  they 
are  working  in  the  dusk  and  at  night,  when  most 
other  birds  are  off  duty.  The  amount  of  good 
work  they  do  is  almost  unbelievable.  An 
Arkansas  night  hawk  whose  stomach  was  ex- 
amined, had  captured  six  hundred  insects. 
Gnats,  beetles,  flies,  and  grasshoppers  are  also 
eaten  by  night  hawks,  and  seven  Nebraska  speci- 
mens were  found  to  have  gathered  in  348  Rocky 
Mountain  locusts. 

Swifts  also  capture  most  of  their  insect  food 
while  on  the  wing,  and  they  are  apt  to  be  found 
on  duty  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night.  They 
should  be  encouraged  to  nest  in  the  chimneys 
wherever  they  will. 

Flycatchers,  too,  catch  most  of  their  prey  on 
the  wing,  but  unlike  the  swifts  and  night  hawks, 
they  do  not  go  far  afield  to  hunt  for  it.  Upon 
some  dead  tree  top,  a  telegraph  pole,  the  gable 
of  a  barn,  or  similar  vantage  point,  they  stand, 
quiet  but  very  watchful,  until  some  luckless 
insect  comes  within  range  of  their  vision.  A 
swift  dive  out  into  space,  the  click  of  a  bill,  and 


104  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  sentinel  returns  to  his  post  with  the  insect 
inside.  Perhaps  no  flycatcher  is  better  known  or 
better  loved  than  our  common  phcebe,  whose 
return  in  the  spring  is  a  pretty  sure  sign  of  mild 
weather  or  at  least  the  approach  of  it.  Ninety- 
three  per  cent,  of  this  bird's  food  consists  of 
insects,  and  the  remainder  of  wild  fruit.  It  rears 
two  broods  of  young  each  year  and  as  there  are 
often  five  birds  to  each  brood,  the  amount  of  food 
consumed  is  very  great.  There  is  always  a  nest 
under  the  roof  of  our  piazza,  and  we  should  miss 
the  birds  in  more  ways  than  one  if  they  did  not 
come.  In  the  first  place  we  should  miss  their 
cheery  companionship.  We  should  also  miss 
our  customary  freedom  from  annoyance  by  flies 
and  mosquitoes,  for  which  we  are  indebted  to 
the  phcebes  and  a  few  other  birds.  And  it 
should  be  remembered  that  birds  which  destroy 
house  flies  probably  destroy  the  typhoid  germs 
they  may  be  carrying,  and  that  birds  which 
destroy  mosquitoes  may  be  freeing  us  from  the 
dangers  of  malaria.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
birds  have  not  yet  received  the  credit  due  them 
as  preventers  of  disease.  The  kingbird  has 
still  another  claim  upon  us.  This  handsome 
flycatcher  is  one  of  the  best  of  all  guardians  of  the 
poultry  yard.  If  a  pair  of  kingbirds  make  their 
nest  on  some  pear  or  apple  tree  in  the  orchard  or 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     105 

chicken-yard,  woe  to  the  hawk  or  crow  that 
attempts  to  steal  the  chickens.  Long  before  he 
gets  near,  the  kingbirds  will  fly  out  and  attack 
him,  and  like  as  not  will  make  the  feathers  fly 
from  his  back  before  he  can  escape.  Besides, 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  kingbird's  food  consists  of 
insects.  He  has  been  accused  of  eating  honey 
bees,  but  that  he  does  so  to  any  great  extent  has 
not  been  proven.  In  241  stomachs  examined, 
there  were  found  forty  drones,  four  workers,  and 
six  whose  sex  could  not  be  determined.  The 
killing  of  the  drones  was  beneficial,  and  the  small 
loss  entailed  by  the  killing  of  four  workers  was 
more  than  made  up  for  by  the  destruction  of 
nineteen  robber  flies  which  were  also  found  in 
these  stomachs. 

Crows  and  blue  jays  seem  to  be  "on  the  fence/' 
They  both  do  great  good  at  certain  times  and 
in  certain  places  and  great  damage  at  other 
times  and  places.  Both  of  them  stand  rather 
high  as  destroyers  of  insects  and  both  have  bad 
reputations  as  robbers  of  birds'  nests.  In  his 
government  bulletin  on  The  Common  Crow  of  the 
United  States,  Professor  Walter  B.  Barrows  sums 
up  his  subject's  case  as  follows: 

"  (i)  Crows  seriously  damage  the  corn  crop,  and 
injure  other  grain  crops,  usually  to  a  less  extent. 
(2)  They  damage  other  farm  crops  to  some  extent, 


106  Wild  Bird  Guests 

frequently  doing  much  mischief.  (3)  They  are 
very  destructive  to  the  eggs  and  young  of 
domesticated  fowls.  (4)  They  do  incalculable 
damage  to  the  eggs  and  young  of  native  birds. 
(5)  They  do  much  harm  by  the  distribution  of  the 
seeds  of  poison-ivy,  poison-sumach,  and  perhaps 
other  noxious  plants.  (6)  They  do  much  harm 
by  the  destruction  of  beneficial  insects.  On  the 
other  hand,  (i)  They  do  much  good  by  the 
destruction  of  injurious  insects.  (2)  They  are 
largely  beneficial  through  their  destruction  of 
mice  and  other  rodents.  (3)  They  are  valuable 
occasionally  as  scavengers."  In  conclusion  he 
says:  "It  seems  probable  that  in  most  places 
the  crow  is  neither  so  harmful  nor  so  valuable 
as  to  render  special  laws  necessary  for  its  destruc- 
tion or  protection." 

These  last  remarks  probably  apply  equally 
well  to  the  blue  jay,  who  though  a  notorious 
robber  of  nests,  is  useful  as  a  destroyer  of  the 
larvae  of  brown-tail  and  gypsy  moths,  the  eggs  of 
the  tent-caterpillar  moth,  besides  beetles  and 
grasshoppers.  Neither  crows  nor  blue  jays 
should  be  exterminated  but  they  should  be 
watched,  and  where  they  become  too  numerous 
or  too  bold,  and  seriously  interfere  with  other 
wild  birds  or  with  poultry,  measures  should  be 
taken  to  thin  them  out. 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     107 

Birds  belonging  to  what  we  might  call  "the 
blackbird  family, "  which  includes  the  bobolinks, 
meadow  larks,  orioles,  blackbirds,  grackles,  and 
cowbirds,  are  nearly  all  more  beneficial  than 
harmful.  But  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the 
amount  of  good  done  by  the  different  members  of 
this  family.  The  meadow  lark  is  one  of  the  most 
useful.  In  the  eastern  states  it  does  very  little 
harm  even  in  the  spring  when  the  corn  is  sprout- 
ing; in  summer,  it  feeds  almost  exclusively  on 
insects,  chiefly  noxious  ones,  and  in  the  fall  it 
is  useful  as  a  destroyer  of  weed  seeds.  Pro- 
fessor Harold  Child  Bryant  of  the  University  of 
California,  in  his  splendid  work  on  The  Economic 
Status  of  the  Western  Meadow  Lark  shows  how 
valuable  the  bird  is  to  the  California  farmer,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  it  does  some  damage  by 
pulling  grain  during  two  weeks  in  the  spring,  a 
damage  which  might  be  prevented,  he  suggests, 
by  planting  the  grain  somewhat  deeper  or  by  a 
little  overplanting.  Professor  Bryant  gives  ten 
good  reasons  why  the  meadow  lark  should  be 
protected,  and  among  them  is  the  fact  that  it  is 
probably  unequaled  as  a  destroyer  of  cutworms, 
caterpillars,  and  grasshoppers,  three  of  the  worst 
insect  plagues  in  the  state  of  California. 

Taking  the  other  extreme,  the  bobolink  prob- 
ably does  much  more  harm  than  good,  if  we 


io8  Wild  Bird  Guests 

judge  him  solely  from  an  economic  standpoint. 
It  is  hard  for  people  of  the  north,  where  the  bird 
is  so  well-beloved  for  aesthetic  reasons,  to  hear 
him  condemned,  but  the  fact  remains  that  his 
depredations  in  the  rice  fields  of  the  south  are 
often  very  serious.  In  the  fall  the  bobolinks 
gather  in  flocks  of  millions,  which  move  like 
armies  upon  the  rice  crops,  which  they  would 
destroy  in  two  or  three  days  if  they  were  not 
continually  being  driven  off  by  "bird-minders" 
who  patrol  the  fields,  and  slaughter  the  birds 
by  shooting  them. 

Sparrows  and  finches  base  their  chief  claim  to 
usefulness  upon  the  fact  that  they  are,  as  a  family, 
the  greatest  destroyers  of  the  seeds  of  noxious 
weeds.  They  help  to  keep  down  perhaps  fifty  or 
sixty  kinds  of  injurious  plants,  and  the  amount 
of  good  they  accomplish  in  the  course  of  a  year  is 
hard  to  believe.  Many  of  them,  like  the  juncos, 
tree  sparrows,  and  snow  buntings,  work  in  flocks, 
and  before  them  such  seeds  as  ragweed,  pigweed, 
smartweed,  and  crab  grass  fairly  melt  away  from 
the  ground.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to 
find  from  300  to  500  seeds  in  the  stomach  of  a 
single  sparrow,  and  these  represent  but  a  part 
of  the  day's  work.  Prof.  F.  E.  L.  Beal  some 
time  ago  made  a  very  careful  and  conservative 
estimate  of  the  number  -of  tree  sparrows  which 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     109 

spent  the  winter  in  the  state  of  Iowa.  Judging 
from  the  stomach  contents  of  many  tree  sparrows 
examined  by  him,  he  allowed  a  quarter  of  an 
ounce  of  weed  seed  a  day  for  each  bird,  and  on 
this  basis  calculated  that  in  that  one  state, 
the  tree  sparrows  destroy  1,750,000  pounds,  or 
about  875  tons  of  weed  seed  during  each  winter. 
Supposing  that  those  seeds  had  been  left  on  the 
ground  and  that  one  in  a  hundred  had  germin- 
ated, I  wonder  what  it  would  have  cost  the 
farmer  to  grub  them  out., 

Our  seven  species  of  swallows  may  be  counted 
among  the  birds  which  are  almost  wholly  bene- 
ficial. They  do  no  harm  in  any  way  beyond 
eating  a  few  useful  parasitic  insects,  and  comb- 
ing the  air  from  morning  to  night  they  destroy 
an  almost  unbelievable  number  of  noxious  flying 
things,  including  house  flies,  mosquitoes,  gnats, 
and  horse  flies.  As  most  of  them  are  quick  to 
accept  the  hospitality  of  man,  they  are  among  the 
most  useful  birds  we  can  have  around  our  homes 
and  barns.  But  they  are  valuable  in  fields  as 
well,  since  they  gather  in  locusts,  leaf  hoppers, 
ants,  wasps,  and  bugs.  The  purple  martin,  the 
largest  of  the  family,  is  very  fond  of  squash 
beetles.  The  stomachs  of  ten  purple  martins, 
shot  in  Nebraska,  were  found  to  contain  265 
locusts  and  161  other  insects. 


no  Wild  Bird  Guests 

When  we  see  shrikes  attacking  our  favorite 
chickadees  and  other  little  friends  in  winter,  it  is 
hard  for  us  to  regard  them  as  useful  birds.  Yet 
Dr.  Judd,  who  has  closely  studied  their  feeding 
habits,  tells  us  that  in  the  main  these  habits  are 
good.  It  appears  that  one-fourth  of  their  food 
consists  of  mice,  one-fourth  of  grasshoppers, 
one-fourth  of  English  sparrows  and  noxious 
insects,  and  only  one-fourth  of  small  native  birds, 
useful  beetles,  and  spiders. 

Quite  different  is  the  important  service  ren- 
dered by  a  host  of  small  birds  whose  duty  it 
seems  to  be  to  protect  the  trees  and  shrubs  among 
which  they  spend  the  greater  part  of  their 
lives.  Here  we  have  the  vireos,  warblers,  wrens, 
nut-hatches,  titmice,  and  kinglets,  all  energetic 
and  persistent  hunters  of  small  game,  which 
if  allowed  to  increase  unchecked  would  quickly 
destroy  our  forests  and  set  at  naught  the  best 
work  of  the  fruit  grower.  The  vireos,  many  of 
the  warblers,  some  of  the  wrens,  and  the  titmice, 
work  chiefly  among  the  small  twigs,  the  leaves, 
and  blossoms  of  the  trees,  and  they  are  well- 
hidden  insects,  insect  eggs,  or  cocoons  which 
escape  the  sharp  little  eyes  made  on  purpose  to 
spy  them,  and  the  sharper  beaks  so  well  fitted 
for  probing  the  crannies  where  they  lurk.  Who 
can  help  admiring  the  work  of  a  chickadee  when 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     in 

he  undertakes  to  inspect  a  particular  twig.  He 
goes  at  it  as  if  he  knew  his  business  and  took 
a  pride  in  doing  it  right.  He  studies  his  subject 
from  every  point  of  view — from  above,  from 
both  sides,  and  from  below,  thinking  nothing  of 
swinging  upside  down  if  this  position  affords  him 
a  better  view  of  any  particular  spot.  And  woe 
to  the  pests  which  may  be  hiding  from  him. 
Canker-worm  eggs  here,  a  small  caterpillar  there, 
and  a  bark  beetle  behind  that  twig,  and  the 
chickadee  goes  back  and  forth,  up  and  down,  and 
round  and  round,  meanwhile  chatting  gaily  to  a 
dozen  fellows,  all  working  on  different  twigs,  un- 
til that  little  job  is  finished  and  he  passes  on  to 
the  next  one.  Prof.  E.  D.  Sanderson,  who  has 
carefully  studied  the  chickadee  in  Michigan, 
estimates  that  this  bird  destroys  every  year  in 
that  one  state  about  eight  thousand  million 
insects. 

Certain  warblers,  the  nuthatches,  and  brown 
creepers,  devote  themselves  chiefly  to  the  insects 
which  infest  the  bark  of  the  trees,  and  gather  in 
many  which  the  woodpeckers  have  passed  by. 

Mocking  birds,  thrashers,  catbirds,  thrushes, 
robins,  and  bluebirds  should  not  be  required  to 
give  evidence  of  their  material  usefulness  in 
order  to  insure  our  protection.  Almost  all  of 
them  are  world  famous  as  musicians  and  their 


112  Wild  Bird  Guests 

cheerful  presence  alone  has  won  for  them  the 
love  of  every  American  capable  of  the  finer 
feelings.  Nevertheless  many  of  them  are  very 
useful  as  well.  The  bluebird,  universal  favorite, 
has  a  splendid  record  as  a  destroyer  of  injuri- 
ous insects.  Professor  Forbes,  in  summing  up 
his  evidence  for  this  bird,  remarks:  "One  hun- 
dred bluebirds  at  thirty  insects  a  day,  would  eat 
in  eight  months  about  670,000  insects.  If  this 
number  of  birds  were  destroyed,  the  result  would 
be  the  preservation,  on  the  area  supervised  by 
them,  of  about  seventy  thousand  moths  and 
caterpillars  (many  of  them  cutworms),  twenty 
thousand  leaf  hoppers,  ten  thousand  curculios, 
and  sixty-five  thousand  crickets,  locusts,  and 
grasshoppers.  How  this  frightful  horde  of  ma- 
rauders would  busy  itself  if  left  undisturbed, 
no  one  can  doubt.  It  would  eat  grass  and  clover, 
and  corn  and  cabbage,  inflicting  an  immense 
injury  itself,  and  leaving  a  progeny  which  would 
multiply  that  injury  indefinitely. " 

The  robin  is  charged  with  eating  ripe  fruit  and 
there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  in  many  cases 
the  charge  is  true.  At  times  owners  of  small 
fruit  farms  suffer  severe  losses  from  the  attacks 
of  this  bird,  though  the  investigations  of  Pro- 
fessor Real  tend  to  show  that  where  wild  fruit 
is  abundant  it  is  preferred  to  the  cultivated 


Economic  Reasons  for  Protection     113 

varieties.  In  any  case  the  good  work  accom- 
plished by  the  robin,  in  destroying  insects, 
especially  when  there  are  hungry  nestlings  to  be 
fed,  much  more  than  offsets  the  damage  done  in 
individual  cases. 

The  catbird  must  also  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge  of  fruit  eating,  for  he  is  notoriously  fond 
of  the  smaller  kinds,  but  as  a  check  upon  insect 
pests,  he  more  than  pays  his  bills.  As  he  feeds 
his  young  almost  exclusively  on  insects,  and  as 
he  rears  two  and  often  three  broods  in  a  sea- 
son, the  service  rendered  is  considerable.  The 
stomachs  of  three  nestling  catbirds  examined  by 
Dr.  Clarence  Moores  Weed,  contained  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  of  insect  food.  Sixty-two  per  cent, 
of  this  food  was  composed  of  cutworms. 

Practically  all  the  thrushes  eat  a  good  deal 
of  fruit,  but  most  of  it  is  wild  fruit  that  has  little 
or  no  value  to  man.  On  the  other  hand,  nearly 
two-thirds  of  their  food  consists  of  insects, 
chiefly  injurious  ones. 

So  making  all  allowances  for  a  number  of 
birds  whose  good  deeds  are  offset  by  bad  ones, 
and  for  a  few  which  are  positively  harmful,  we 
shall  see  that  we  have  working  for  us  a  great 
army  of  feathered  workmen — workmen,  many 
of  whom  work  for  us  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  days  in  the  year,  without  wages,  and  without 


114  Wild  Bird  Guests 

even  the  necessity  for  supervision.  And  when 
we  think  that  these  workmen  never  loaf,  never 
ask  for  a  vacation,  and  never  go  on  strike,  it 
would  seem  that  there  should  be,  among  all 
intelligent  people,  the  keenest  competition  for 
their  services.  In  later  chapters  I  shall  show 
some  of  the  ways  in  which  these  workmen  may 
be  induced  to  spend  at  least  a  part  of  the  year  in 
our  fields  and  orchards  and  gardens,  where  they 
will  surely  lay  the  foundations  of  a  permanent 
friendship  which  shall  be  at  once  a  source  of 
pleasure  and  profit  to  us  and  of  protection  to 
themselves. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AESTHETIC    AND    MORAL    REASONS     FOR    PROTECT- 
ING   THE    BIRDS 

WE  have  seen  how  valuable  the  birds  are  to 
us  as  guardians  of  our  trees  and  crops,  and  we 
realize  that  we  should  protect  them  for  our  own 
interests,  because  they  insure  us  heavier  yields 
and  more  money.  To  do  this  will  show  our 
wisdom  and  far-sightedness;  it  will  show  our 
interest  in  birds.  But  it  will  not  necessarily 
show  our  love  for  them,  for  "love  does  not 
traffic  in  a  market-place,  nor  use  a  huckster's 
scales."  Valuable  as  birds  are  as  checks  upon 
our  enemies  the  weeds,  the  insects,  and  the 
rodents,  there  are  higher  reasons  for  protecting 
them.  Looking  at  the  matter  from  an  aesthetic 
point  of  view,  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of 
people,  and  I  number  the  reader  and  myself 
among  them,  who  would  find  the  world  a  much 
harder  place  to  live  in  if  it  were  not  for  the  birds. 
Our  happiness  is  made  up  largely  of  pleasant 
sights  and  sounds  and  thoughts,  and  there  would 

"5 


n6  Wild  Bird  Guests 

be  far  less  of  all  of  these  if  there  were  no  birds. 
We  should  be  deprived  of  the  sight  of  their  won- 
derful forms  and  colors  and  movements.     How 
much  a  flock  of  sea-gulls,  wheeling  and  turning 
and  flashing  sunlight  from  their  silver  pinions, 
above  the  deep  blue  water  of  a  bay  or  harbor 
mouth,  adds  to  the  beauty  of  the  scene.     What 
an  air  of  cheerfulness  a  flock  of  pine  grosbeaks, 
or  juncos,  or  a  brave  band  of  friendly  chickadees 
gives  to  a  leaden  winter  landscape.     How  much 
of  spring  there  is  on  the  back  of  a  bluebird,  that 
fluttering  fragment  dropped  from  the  blue  vault 
of  Heaven.     No  woods  are  dreary  if  the  jays 
or  crows  are  calling;  no  field  but  is  full  of  joy 
if  the  bobolinks  are  sprinkling  it  with  their  song; 
and  he  is  not  quite  human  whose  heart  does  not 
beat  faster  when  at  night  and  far  above  him  he 
hears  the  cry  of  the  wild  gander  as  he  leads  his 
flying  squadrons  northward,  homeward,  through 
the  pathways  of  the  skies.     To  a  lover  of  nature 
it  seems  there  is  no  time  or  place  that  the  pres- 
ence of  living  native  birds  does  not  add  to  one's 
happiness.     Tn  camp  on  a  New  England  moun- 
tain top  in  the  cool  daybreak  of  a  summer  morn- 
ing,   the   wonders   of  the   coming   sunrise   are 
heralded  by  the  voices  of  the  hermit  thrushes 
rising  in  chorus  from  the  dawn-lighted  spruce 
spires  below.     The  loneliness  of  the  marsh  at 


^Esthetic  and  Moral  Reasons         117 

noonday  vanishes  as  a  stately  heron  flaps  across 
the  stagnant  water  and  silently  joins  our  vigil. 
In  the  afternoon  among  the  flower-beds  the  soft 
purr  of  a  humming-bird's  motor  causes  us  to 
smile  as  we  realize  that  we  are  not  alone  in  the 
garden.  In  the  dusk  of  evening  the  call  of  the 
soft-voiced,  invisible  whippoorwill  adds  charm- 
ing mystery  to  the  gathering  shadows  of  the 
roadside;  and  the  glories  of  a  winter  night  in 
the  big  woods  are  not  complete  without  the 
deep-toned  hooting  of  an  owl  to  speak  of  the 
majesty  of  solitude.  By  the  wonderful  and 
delightful  feeling  of  companionship  which  they 
create,  birds  lure  us  into  the  open — away  from 
the  cities,  into  the  woods  and  fields  and  beside 
the  rivers  and  the  ocean  beach,  where  the  air 
and  sunlight  are  pure  and  full  of  health  and 
life.  And  perhaps,  after  all,  this  is  just  as  im- 
portant as  keeping  the  beetles  out  of  the  potato 
patch. 

So  it  would  seem  that  all  but  particularly 
stupid  or  particularly  thoughtless  persons  must 
be  interested  in  birds  entirely  apart  from  their 
economic  value,  and  to  many  they  are  the  source 
of  the  greatest  joy  in  life.  Even  primitive 
peoples  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  the 
remarkable  forms  and  colors  of  birds;  by  their 
tranquil  songs,  their  thrilling  cries,  and  their 


n8  Wild  Bird  Guests 

weird  calls;  and  by  their  seemingly  mysterious 
gatherings  and  disappearances  and  reappear- 
ances. It  is  hardly  strange  that  these  wonderful 
creatures,  so  different  from  all  other  forms  of  life, 
yet  so  human  in  many  of  their  attributes,  which 
had  mastered  the  air  and  which  came  and  went 
at  will  through  paths  where  none  could  follow, 
should  exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the  minds 
of  peoples  seeking  to  solve,  without  the  aid  of 
science,  the  mysteries  of  nature.  So  birds  came 
to  be  invested  with  supernatural  powers,  some 
for  good  and  some  for  evil;  they  became  the 
subjects  of  story  and  legend  and  in  this  way 
interwoven  with  ancient  folklore  and  symbol- 
ism. In  Percy  Mackaye's  famous  bird  masque, 
Sanctuary,  Ornis,  the  Spirit  of  All  Birds,  in  her 
appeal  to  Stark,  the  Plume-hunter,  says: 

"  Do  you  not  know  me  ?     I  am  she 
Whom  first  beneath  the  dark  ancestral  tree, 
You  rose  upon  your  feet  to  hearken  to. 
By  me  you  grew 

To  song  and  freedom.     Round  your  olden  feasts 
You  watched  my   circling   flights,    whereby    your 

priests 

Proclaimed  their  omens  and  their  oracles; 
My  cranes  announced  your  victories,  my  storks 
Fed  your  hearth  fires,  my  silver-throated  gulls 
And  golden  hawks 
Saved  many  your  sea  towns  from  sore  pestilence; 


^Esthetic  and  Moral  Reasons         119 

And  my  sweet  night  bird  tuned  your  poets '  shells 

To  lull  sad  lovers  in  languorous  asphodels; 

Yet  all  my  influence 

Shone  dimmer  than  my  beauty :  my  bright  plumes 

Lured  you  to  squander  them,  till,  in  the  fumes 

Of  greed,  your  heart  forgot  to  cherish  me, 

And  sold  me  unto  death  and  slavery." 

And  much  of  this  symbolism  and  not  a  little 
of  the  superstition  with  it,  has  been  handed  down 
to  us  and  is  part  of  our  every-day  life  and  con- 
versation. For  example,  the  dove  is  the  emblem 
of  gentleness  and  peace ;  the  eagle  of  war  and 
aggressive  power;  the  nightingale  of  song;  the 
owl  of  wisdom;  the  vulture  of  greed,  and  the 
raven  of  darkness  and  disaster.  Nor  are  we 
entirely  dependent  on  the  ancients  for  such 
symbols;  we  are  beginning  to  adopt  new  ones. 
Our  chickadee  has  become  the  symbol  of  friend- 
liness, our  robin  of  cheerfulness,  and  our  blue- 
bird of  happiness.  And  it  will  pay  us  to  learn, 
as  many  have  already  learned,  that  the  happiness 
which  comes  with  the  bluebird  in  the  spring, 
may  be  made  to  last  through  the  rest  of  the  year 
by  sympathetic  association  with  the  other  birds 
in  their  season. 

In  decorative  art,  especially  in  Oriental  deco- 
rative art,  birds  have  a  very  important  place. 
For  example,  the  artists  of  Japan  seem  never  to 


I2O  Wild  Bird  Guests 

tire  of  using  birds  in  their  schemes  of  decoration. 
All  kinds  of  birds  are  used  and  nearly  always  with 
beautiful  effect.  Sometimes  it  is  a  song  bird, 
sitting  with  swelled  throat  and  parted  bill,  among 
the  delicately  tinted  blossoms  of  cherry  or  wild 
plum;  again  it  is  a  heron  standing  on  one  leg 
beside  a  conventional  stream,  or  a  crow  perched 
on  a  leafless  branch  amid  the  winter  whiteness; 
and  still  again  it  is  a  flock  of  swallows  or  wild 
geese  flung  out  across  the  sky  and  telling  their 
story  as  well  as  if  the  picture  had  been  labelled 
"Spring.55  . 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  in  the  origin  of 
music  the  songs  of  birds  were  among  the  first 
suggestions  supplied  to  primitive  musicians  by 
external  nature.  Later  instrumental  composers 
have  found  in  the  imitation  of  Nature's  voices 
a  distinct  phase  of  musical  expression,  and  in 
this  the  calls  and  songs  of  birds  hold  a  conspicu- 
ous place.  The  call  of  the  cuckoo  was  a 
favorite  motive  among  early  instrumental  com- 
posers, and  was  used  by  Beethoven  in  the 
Scene  by  a  Brook,  in  the  Pastoral  Symphony, 
together  with  the  songs  of  the  nightingale  and  the 
call  of  the  quail.  Another  very  notable  example 
of  the  employment  of  bird  notes  by  great  com- 
posers, is  found  in  Wagner's  Siegfried.  Sieg- 
fried listens  to  the  songs  of  birds,  made  plain  to 


./Esthetic  and  Moral  Reasons         121 

him  by  a  taste  of  the  dragon's  blood.  A  bird 
sings  to  him  of  Briinhilde,  the  flame-encircled 
warrior  maiden.  The  bird  wings  its  flight 
through  the  forest  and  Siegfried  follows  joy- 
ously. 

In  Haydn's  The  Creation  a  soprano  sings: — 

"On  mighty  pens  uplifted  soars 
The  eagle  aloft  and  cleaves  the  air 
In  swiftest  flight  to  the  blazing  sun. 
His  welcome  bids  to  morn  the  merry  lark, 
And  cooing  calls  the  tender  dove  his  mate. 
From  every  bush  and  grove  resound 
The  nightingale's  delightful  notes; 
No  grief  affected  yet  her  breast, 
Nor  to  a  mournful  tale  were  turned 
Her  soft  enchanting  lays. " 

Grieg's  beautiful  Spring  song  fairly  twitters 
with  the  joyous  notes  of  birds,  and  this,  with 
Schubert's  "Hark,  hark,  the  lark,"  from  Cymbe- 
line  and  Abt's  When  the  Swallows  Homeward  Fly 
are  among  the  many  familiar  examples  which 
might  be  cited  of  the  contribution  which  birds, 
directly  and  indirectly,  have  made  to  music. 

And  birds  have  affected  literature  even  more. 
Thousands  of  books  have  been  written  either 
wholly  or  partly  on  birds.  Many  of  these  are 
English,  but  all  civilized  peoples  have  their 
books  on  this  subject.  One  of  the  most  beauti- 


122  Wild  Bird  Guests 

ful  and  poetic  is  The  Bird,  by  the  great 
French  historian,  Jules  Michelet.  As  for  the 
poets,  few  of  them  have  been  able  to  resist  the 
power  of  the  birds,  and  indeed  it  would  seem 
that  a  poet  could  hardly  remain  unaffected  by 
the  charm  of  beings  so  essentially  poetic.  Some 
of  the  very  earliest  English  poems,  in  some  cases 
anonymous,  had  birds  for  their  themes.  Chaucer 
was  a  bird  lover  and  continually  shows  it.  King 
James  the  First  of  Scotland,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  fifteenth  century  wrote  Spring  Song  of  the 
Birds.  Edmund  Spenser  wrote  of  feathered  folk; 
Shakespeare  alludes  to  them  again  and  again, 
and  William  Blake  never  more  tersely  showed 
his  sympathy  for  them  than  when  he  wrote: 

"  A  robin  redbreast  in  a  cage 
Puts  all  heaven  in  a  rage." 

Nearly  all  the  later  English  poets,  Milton,  Pope, 
Cowper,  Burns,  Wordsworth,  Hogg,  Scott,  Cole- 
ridge, Byron,  Shelley,  Keats,  Hood,  Tennyson, 
Browning,  Rossetti,  Wilde,  and  many  others 
have  received  inspiration  from  the  birds.  The 
skylark  alone  has  inspired  many  of  them,  and 
perhaps  none  of  the  poems  of  Hogg  or  Shelley 
are  better  known  than  their  odes  to  this  famous 
songster. 
A  few  years  ago  the  writer  had  reason  to  visit 


^Esthetic  and  Moral  Reasons         123 

a  New  York  department  store,  and  there  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  "chanticleer"  bow,  at 
that  moment,  the  "latest  thing5'  in  women's 
neck  wear.  It  was  made  of  fluted  satin  ribbon, 
and  would  have  been  commonplace  enough  but 
for  the  fact  that  in  the  center  of  it  was  the  head 
of  an  English  skylark.  And  it  was  but  one  of 
scores  of  similar  bows  exposed  to  the  indifferent 
gaze  of  thousands,  some  of  whom  stopped  to  buy 
for  money  what  no  money  on  earth  should  be 
permitted  to  buy.  The  writer  is  not  a  poet,  but 
a  boyhood  spent  in  England  made  him  an  ardent 
lover  of  the  skylark,  and  perhaps  the  reader  can 
guess  what  feelings  possessed  him  when  he  saw 
the  mummied  head  of  that  modest  little  bard 
on  a  tawdry  bow  in  a  department  store.  Per- 
haps what  he  felt  most  keenly  was  the  degra- 
dation of  the  bird,  and  it  filled  him  with  such 
indignation  that  he  sought  the  manager  of  the 
store  and  registered  a  vigorous  protest.  This 
was  followed  by  a  written  one  to  the  proprietors 
and  by  a  letter  which  was  printed  in  the  New 
York  Times.  But  the  National  Association  of 
Audubon  Societies,  under  the  direction  of  Wil- 
liam Dutcher  was  already  at  work  on  the  case,  and 
it  was  but  a  short  time  before  the  sale  of  chanti- 
cleer bows  was  stopped — let  us  hope  forever. 
And  American  poets  have  held  their  own  in 


124  Wild  Bird  Guests 

showing  appreciation  of  wild  birds;  Bryant, 
Drake,  Emerson,  Whittier,  Longfellow,  Poe, 
Holmes,  Van  Dyke,  and  Mackaye  are  among  the 
many  who  have  tuned  their  lyres  to  the  songs  of 
birds.  Of  all  Poe's  poems  the  best  known  is  The 
Raven;  of  Bryant's,  few  are  better  known  than 
To  a  Waterfowl.  How  birds  can  awaken  poetry 
in  the  heart  of  a  child  is  shown  by  The  Hermit 
Thrush,  written  by  Percy  Mackaye's  little 
daughter  Arvia  at  the  age  of  nine.  In  short,  as 
John  Burroughs  indicates  in  his  book  Birds  and 
Poets,  these  bards  are  inseparable,  and  Tennyson 
must  have  felt  this  when  he  wrote  The  Poet's  Song: 

"  And  he  sat  him  down  in  a  lonely  place, 

And  chanted  a  melody  loud  and  sweet, 
That  made  the  wild  swan  pause  in  her  cloud, 

And  the  lark  drop  down  at  his  feet. 
The  swallow  stopt  as  he  hunted  the  bee, 

The  snake  slipt  under  a  spray, 
The  wild  hawk  stood  with  the  down  on  his  beak, 

And  stared,  with  his  foot  on  the  prey, 
And  the  nightingale  thought, '  I  have  sung  many  songs, 

But  never  a  one  so  gay, 
For  he  sings  of  what  the  world  will  be, 

When  the  years  have  died  away/" 

And  perhaps  our  own  Van  Dyke  felt  it  even  more 
deeply  when  at  the  close  of  his  lovely  poem  on 
The  7 eery  he  sings : 


./Esthetic  and  Moral  Reasons         125 

"And  when  my  light  of  life  is  low, 
And  heart  and  flesh  are  weary, 
I  fain  would  hear  before  I  go 
The  wood  note  of  the  veery." 

And  I  have  noticed  that  the  work  of  providing  for 
the  needs  of  wild  birds  has  a  wonderfully  good 
effect  upon  the  people  engaged  in  it.  In  the  first 
place  it  awakens  or  stimulates  an  interest  in  an 
important  and  fascinating  subject,  and  provides 
for  the  mental  and  physical  activities  an  out- 
let which  can  lead  only  to  good.  Through  it  the 
coming  generation  will  get  practical  experience 
in  the  conservation  of  our  natural  resources,  and 
thus  by  taking  part  in  a  great  national  movement 
they  will  at  an  early  age  begin  to  feel  the  joy  of 
being  useful.  Most  work  of  a  public  nature  is 
impractical  for  children,  but  here  is  a  work  in 
which  young  people  can  be  almost  as  useful  as 
older  ones  and  at  the  same  time  provide  for 
themselves  one  of  the  sweetest  and  most  satisfy- 
ing hobbies  known  to  man.  Work  for  the  birds 
tends  to  thoughtfulness  and  consideration;  in- 
asmuch as  it  is  inspired  by  the  work  the  birds 
do  for  us,  it  encourages  appreciation  and  grati- 
tude, and  a  sense  of  justice  and  fair  play;  as  it 
brings  to  the  worker  a  sense  of  the  helplessness 
of  his  feathered  friends  at  certain  times,  it  be- 
gets feelings  of  humanity,  kindness,  sympathy, 


126  Wild  Bird  Guests 

and  compassion  and  stimulates  warmth  of  heart; 
and  if  some  personal  sacrifice  is  required  in  order 
to  do  this  work,  the  worker  gets  practice  in  un- 
selfishness. And  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  author 
that  if  children  once  learn  these  things,  they 
will  have  made  a  very  fair  start  towards  good 
citizenship  if  they  are  not  taught  anything  else. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   ENTERTAINMENT  OF  WILD   BIRDS  IN  WINTER 

IF  we  are  lovers  of  birds  (and  who  would  like 
to  admit  that  he  is  not  one)  that  fact  alone 
should  be  sufficient  to  insure  our  feeding  them 
in  winter;  for  it  is  not  conceivable  that  we  would 
allow  those  whom  we  love  to  run  the  risk  of 
starving  to  death,  if  by  any  reasonable  effort 
we  could  prevent  it.  In  spite  of  all  we  can  do, 
many  birds  will  die  of  starvation  almost  every 
winter,  but  the  more  of  us  there  are  who  will  give 
even  a  little  thought,  go  to  even  a  little  trouble 
for  their  welfare,  the  fewer  deaths  there  will  be. 

Looking  at  the  matter  merely  from  the  stand- 
point of  our  own  pleasure  we  shall  soon  learn  that 
by  feeding  the  birds  regularly  we  shall  make  a  lot 
of  new  friends,  and  that  with  a  little  patience 
and  a  little  ingenuity  sometimes,  we  may  soon 
be  on  terms  of  the  most  delightful  intimacy  with 
them.  At  our  home  we  are  continually  hav- 
ing unique  and  interesting  experiences  with  the 
birds  which  accept  our  hospitality.  We  had  one 

127 


128  Wild  Bird  Guests 

only  this  morning,  September  19,  1914.  A  little 
band  of  chickadees  came  into  our  lilac  bushes, 
and  thence  flew  down  to  a  bird  bath  made  from 
a  huge  shell  and  took  their  baths.  Mrs.  Baynes 
went  out  and  called  them,  and  two  of  them 
alighted  upon  her  at  once.  One  was  dingy  in 
color  and  somewhat  dishevelled,  and  looked  as 
though  it  might  have  just  finished  a  very  tedi- 
ous nesting  season.  The  other  looked  very 
clean  and  fresh  and  by  its  voice  alone  we 
knew  it  to  be  a  young  one.  On  the  left  leg  of 
the  dingy  one  was  a  tiny  aluminum  band,  and 
as  the  bird  preened  its  feathers  we  could  read 
on  this  band  the  number.  Instantly  we  knew 
her  for  an  old  friend  of  ours.  Year  before  last 
she  nested  in  a  Berlepsch  nest  box  in  our  garden, 
and  was  so  tame,  doubtless  because  we  had  fed 
her  the  winter  before,  that  she  came  straight 
from  the  nest  to  Mrs.  Baynes'  hand  for  nut- 
meat.  On  one  occasion  I  went  up  a  ladder  to  the 
nest  box,  and  this  bird  alighted  at  the  entrance 
hole.  She  was  so  fearless  that  I  put  my  hand 
gently  over  her,  and  placed  the  little  band  upon 
her  leg.  That  was  over  two  years  ago  and  here 
she  was  back  again,  fearless  as  ever,  and  with  a 
young  one,  very  likely  one  of  her  own. 

Some  of  us  feed  the  birds  all  the  year  round, 
because  we  like  to  see  them  about.      Moreover, 


Entertainment  in  Winter  129 

they  are  more  likely  to  nest  in  or  near  the  garden 
if  they  are  in  the  habit  of  coming  there  for  food 
every  day,  and  we  believe  that  if  it  does  cost  us 
a  few  pennies  for  seed  and  suet,  it  pays  in 
more  ways  than  one.  As  a  rule,  no  matter  how 
much  food  is  put  out  the  birds  seem  to  regard 
it  simply  as  a  reserve  supply  and  continue  to 
get  nine-tenths  of  their  living  in  the  usual  way. 
Purple  finches  are  notable  exceptions  to  this  rule; 
it  has  been  my  experience  that  they  absolutely 
refuse  to  work  as  long  as  they  are  well  supplied 
with  seed.  But  then,  the  male  purple  finch  is 
a  splendid  singer  and  has  a  long  period  of  song, 
and  perhaps  he  should  be  excused  from  further 
work  on  the  ground  that  he  is  an  artist. 

But  the  birds  actually  need  food  only  when  for 
some  reason  their  natural  supply  is  not  to  be  had. 
This  is  often  the  case  in  winter,  especially  after 
heavy  snowstorms.  At  such  times  let  us  pay  no 
attention  to  the  wiseacres  who  tell  us  that  we  are 
pauperizing  the  birds;  they  might  just  as  well 
argue  against  supplying  food  to  starving  men. 
Let  us  save  the  lives  of  a  few  thousand  birds  and 
then  if  anyone  finds  that  we  have  made  a  mistake 
in  doing  this,  we'll  stand  the  consequences. 

Perhaps  no  branch  of  bird-feeding  work  is 
more  in  need  of  consideration  at  this  time  than 
that  which  provides  for  the  great  army  of  game 


130  Wild  Bird  Guests 

birds  and  others  which  struggle  along  as  best 
they  can  in  the  woods  and  fields.  It  would  seem 
to  be  the  duty  of  the  people  in  every  town  where 
deep  snows  prevail  in  winter,  to  see  that  their 
own  birds  are  provided  for  and  not  allowed  to 
starve;  and  it  has  been  my  experience  that  nice 
people  of  all  classes  are  of  just  one  mind  on  this 
subject.  The  only  question  which  should  be 
raised  at  such  a  time  is,  "How  shall  we  do  it?" 
If  there  is  a  really  live,  efficient  bird  club  in  the 
town,  it  will  answer  this  question  promptly, 
and  if  there  are  Boy  Scouts  in  the  neighborhood, 
of  course  they  will  cooperate  with  enthusiasm. 
If  there  is  no  such  club,  then  one  should  be  or- 
ganized as  soon  as  possible,  and  in  the  meantime 
I  will  suggest  a  plan  which  has  proved  successful 
in  several  different  towns,  and  which  may  help 
until  a  better  one  is  thought  out. 

First  of  all,  two  or  three  enthusiasts  call  a 
meeting  of  all  those  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
the  wild  birds.  This  is  done  through  the  local 
paper,  if  there  is  one,  or  through  the  school- 
children, or  both,  or  in  any  other  way  which  may 
be  convenient.  A  special  effort  is  made  to  have 
this  meeting  attended  by  the  superintendent  of 
schools,  and  as  many  principals,  teachers,  and 
ministers  as  possible;  this  tends  to  impress  the 
school-children  and  others  with  the  dignity  and 


,/ 


ia> 


f  Slaved  /rcm 

' 


<7 


0        f     /?        /) 


Entertainment  in  Winter  131 

importance  of  the  work,  and  has  a  good  general 
effect.  The  necessity  for  feeding  the  birds  in 
winter  is  explained  very  carefully,  and  then  a 
few  committees  are  appointed  to  arrange  details. 
One  committee  devotes  itself  to  obtaining  bird- 
food  and  money  to  buy  food,  and  sometimes 
calls  to  its  assistance  such  available  outsiders  as 
may  be  able  to  help.  There  are  very  few  people 
in  any  American  town  who  will  refuse  to  help 
such  work  along  in  one  way  or  another,  if  the 
matter  is  brought  directly  to  their  attention  in 
a  proper  way.  It  is  usually  possible  to  approach 
many  people  personally;  but,  in  any  case,  the 
school-children  can  be  urged  to  explain  the 
matter  to  their  parents,  and  local  papers  are 
usually  very  willing  to  make  known  the  needs 
of  the  committee.  Local  grocers,  butchers,  and 
grain-dealers  I  have  found  to  be  among  the  most 
generous  contributors,  and  often,  after  they 
have  given  all  they  can  afford,  they  will  sell  to 
the  bird-feeders  a  considerable  amount  of  food 
at  cost. 

In  the  meantime  another  committee  is  busy 
getting  the  names  of  volunteers  to  distribute  the 
food  in  the  woods  and  fields.  Here  let  me  say 
that  this  work  is  not,  as  a  rule,  suitable  for  small 
children,  girls,  or  women ;  it  should  be  done  by 
strong,  healthy  boys,  and  by  such  men  as  can  af- 


132  Wild  Bird  Guests 

ford  or  will  make  the  time.  It  has  been  my  ex- 
perience that  no  better  workers  can  be  found  than 
the  boys  from  the  high  schools  and  the  upper 
grades  of  the  grammar  schools ;  this  is  especially 
true  if  they  belong  to  the  Boy  Scouts.  As  a  rule 
their  work  should  be  superintended  by  some 
older  person  in  whom  they  have  confidence. 
But,  whoever  the  workers  are,  they  should  have 
the  support  of  the  entire  community;  they  are 
engaged  in  a  public  work  of  great  value. 

The  coming  of  the  first  real  snowstorm  is 
considered  the  signal  for  the  beginning  of  opera- 
tions. The  volunteers  meet  at  some  convenient 
building,  as  the  high  school  or  the  town  hall, 
where  the  bird-food  has  previously  been  stored, 
and  if  they  are  wise,  they  come  dressed  for  work 
in  the  snow.  The  country  in  and  about  the 
town  is  divided  into  sections,  and  a  squad  vary- 
ing in  size  with  the  number  of  volunteers  and 
the  amount  of  territory  to  be  covered,  is  sent  to 
each  section.  Usually  a  squad  consists  of  two, 
three,  or  four  boys,  who  may  or  may  not  have 
an  older  person  as  leader.  Each  squad  should 
be  provided  with  snow-shovels  to  remove  the 
snow,  or  better,  snowshoes  to  trample  it  down 
hard.  They  should  also  have  a  bag  or  basket 
to  carry  a  mixture  of  grain  and  birdseed,  a 
quantity  of  fat  meat  or  suet,  and  plenty  of  string 


Entertainment  in  Winter  133 

with  which  to  tie  it  to  the  trunks  and  branches  of 
trees.  The  suet  or  other  fat,  which  is,  of  course, 
intended  chiefly  for  the  insectivorous  birds,  is 
displayed  in  conspicuous  places  on  the  branches 
of  trees,  and  the  string  is  wound  round  and  round 
so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  net  which  prevents  the 
food  from  falling  to  the  ground  even  after  it  has 
grown  beautifully  smaller  under  the  attacks  of 
hungry  birds.  This  network  of  string  also  pre- 
vents a  crow  or  a  blue  jay  from  carrying  off  the 
whole  lump  at  once.  It  has  been  found  wise  to  use 
three  or  four  separate  pieces  of  string,  so  that  if 
a  squirrel  comes  along  and  cuts  one  of  them,  the 
suet,  being  held  by  the  others  will  not  fall  to  the 
ground.  Another  way  to  prevent  troubles  of 
this  kind  is  to  flatten  out  a  large  lump  of  suet 
against  a  tree  trunk  and  fasten  over  itwith  staples 
a  square  foot  of  half-inch  wire  netting.  If  the 
upper  edge  is  fastened  rather  lightly,  this  netting 
may  be  made  to  form  a  pocket  which  may  be 
opened  and  stuffed  with  more  suet  as  occasion 
requires.  Here  any  hungry  bird  can  get  a 
meal  on  the  spot,  but  no  selfish  one  can  leave  his 
fellows  in  distress  by  carrying  home  the  whole 
feast. 

As  a  rule,  the  best  places  to  distribute  grain, 
seed,  etc.,  are  in  the  middle  of  wide-open  fields 
and  pastures,  which  can  be  seen  for  a  consider- 


134  Wild  Bird  Guests 

able  distance  by  birds  flying  over.  On  reaching 
such  a  spot  the  members  of  the  squad  fall  to 
with  their  shovels  or  snowshoes  and  clear  or 
trample  a  space  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  square. 
If  the  food  were  thrown  on  untrodden  snow, 
it  would  be  likely  to  sink  in  at  the  first 
thaw,  and  then  it  would  be  quite  out  of  the 
reach  of  most  of  the  hungry  ones.  After  scat- 
tering a  quantity  of  grain,  the  squad  moves  on 
perhaps  half  a  mile,  and  repeats  the  operation, 
establishing  as  many  feeding  stations  as  possi- 
ble in  its  own  section  during  the  time  at  its 
disposal. 

Of  course  it  may  be  somewhat  disheartening 
to  find  that  seed  scattered  during  the  afternoon  is 
covered  up  by  snow  next  morning,  as  sometimes 
happens;  but  boys  with  the  right  stuff  in  them 
will  not  be  discouraged,  but  will  stand  up  to  their 
work  until  it  is  finished.  The  high-school  boys 
of  Stoneham,  Massachusetts,  were  among  the 
first  to  show  that  no  amount  of  snow  could  dis- 
courage bird-feeders  who  had  the  proper  spirit, 
and  in  the  unusually  severe  winter  of  1903-1904, 
they  got  out  with  their  snow-shovels  and  grain 
and  suet  after  every  storm,  and  established  and 
maintained  a  chain  of  seventy-five  feeding  sta- 
tions around  their  town;  so  that  no  intelligent 
bird  could  get  either  in  or  out  without  taking 


Entertainment  in  Winter  135 

a  meal,  if  he  wanted  one.  These  boys  fed  thou- 
sands of  hungry  birds  that  winter,  and  made  their 
school  famous.  By  their  splendid  work  they 
saved  a  few  of  the  very  few  flocks  of  Massachu- 
setts quail  which  survived  that  winter.  If  all  the 
high  schools  in  the  state  had  been  organized  for 
this  work,  the  death  of  unnumbered  bobwhites 
would  have  been  prevented. 

Every  farmer  should  make  a  point  of  keeping 
the  birds  in  his  fields  and  woodland  supplied  with 
food  during  bad  weather,  for,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  is  amongst  those  most  greatly  benefited  by  the 
presence  of  birds.  Besides,  he  generally  has  on 
hand  plenty  of  food  in  the  shape  of  wheat,  oats, 
etc.,  which  can  be  offered  whole  to  the  large  birds 
and  ground  to  the  small  ones. 

Country  doctors,  rural  postmen,  and  others 
who  have  to  take  long  drives  through  the  country 
in  winter,  can  perform  valuable  service  by  dis- 
tributing food  at  likely  spots  or  by  reporting  to 
the  regular  bird-feeders  coveys  of  quail,  or  signs 
of  coveys,  seen  or  heard  of  at  points  along  the 
route. 

Snowshoeing,  skiing,  sleighing  parties,  and 
others  out  for  pleasure  during  the  winter  may 
well  assist  in  this  work  by  establishing  a  feeding 
station  here  and  there,  and  if  they  are  thoughtful 
people,  the  thought  that  they  have  done  a  kindly 


136  Wild  Bird  Guests 

and  useful  act  will  tend  to  increase  their  pleasure, 
and  will  greatly  add  to  their  store  of  pleasant 
memories. 

By  working  together  in  this  way,  the  people 
of  each  town  and  village  and  hamlet  can  take  care 
of  its  own  birds,  and  the  result  will  be  a  marked 
increase  in  their  numbers  without  very  much 
trouble  or  expense  to  any  one  person. 

But  it  is  the  feeding  of  the  birds  in  the  home 
grounds,  in  the  gardens,  and  orchards  that  ap- 
peals to  the  greatest  number  of  people.  Here  is 
a  work  in  which  almost  everyone,  little  children 
and  elderly  people  included,  can  take  an  active 
part.  And  here,  as  a  rule,  will  begin  those  strong 
friendships  for  birds  which  will  make  the  stanch 
bird-protectors  of  the  future.  Here  will  come 
many  of  those  delightful  experiences  with  birds 
which  will  be  among  the  purest  delights  of  child- 
hood, which  will  surely  be  looked  forward  to  and 
repeated  with  pleasure  and  satisfaction  as  the 
years  go  by,  and  which  we  can  never  grow  too  old 
to  enjoy. 

Unless  we  are  among  the  few  who  feed  the 
birds  all  the  year  round,  we  should  begin  to  pre- 
pare rather  early  for  the  winter  work.  Even 
before  the  first  frosts  begin  to  suggest  the  coming 
of  colder  weather  we  may  order  from  the  butcher 
a  few  pounds  of  suet  or  fat  fresh  pork,  and  find 


Entertainment  in  Winter  137 

out  the  best  place  to  buy  birdseed.  By  buying 
seed  at  wholesale,  say  one  hundred  pounds  at  a 
time,  it  may  be  had  at  a  very  low  price.  For 
example,  the  Meriden  Bird  Club  buys  its  hemp 
seed  at  four  cents  a  pound,  when  the  retail  price 
per  pound  is  ten  cents.  We  buy  other  seeds  at 
equally  low  rates.  Many  people  do  not  care  to 
buy  so  much  seed  at  once,  but  if  there  is  a  bird 
club  in  town,  the  club  can  buy  it  in  large  quanti- 
ties and  sell  it  to  members  at  cost.  Or,  if  there 
is  no  club,  a  few  neighbors  can  club  together, 
order  a  hundred  pounds  or  more  sent  to  one 
address,  and  then  divide  it  afterwards. 

Hemp  seed  and  Japanese  millet  are  among  the 
best  seeds  to  offer  the  birds  in  winter ;  most  of  the 
seed-eating  birds  will  eat  one  or  both  of  these, 
and  chickadees  and  nuthatches  chiefly  insectivor- 
ous, are  very  fond  of  hemp.  Sunflower  and 
canary  seed  are  both  eaten  by  a  number  of  birds, 
as  are  squash  and  pumpkin  seeds,  corn,  oats, 
wheat,  bread  crumbs,  doughnut  crumbs,  dog- 
biscuit  crumbs  and  the  seeds  to  be  found  in  barn- 
floor  sweepings.  Nuts  are  a  favorite  food  of 
chickadees,  nuthatches,  and  some  other  birds, 
but  of  course  those  with  hard  shells  must  be 
cracked  before  being  served. 

As  a  substitute  for  insect  food  there  is  nothing 
better  than  suet,  unless  it  be  the  mixture  known 


138  Wild  Bird  Guests 

as  "food-stone,"  the  receipt  for  which  I  shall 
give  farther  on.  Suet  is  easy  to  get  and  easy  to 
handle,  many  birds  like  it  and  eat  it  freely,  it  is 
warmth-producing  and  nourishing,  it  keeps  fresh 
for  a  long  time  and  when  it  becomes  rancid  the 
birds  seem  to  like  it  just  as  well.  As  I  look  out 
of  my  window  at  this  moment,  I  can  see  a  downy 
woodpecker  feeding  on  suet  which  was  put  up 
about  a  year  ago. 

I  give  below  a  list,  by  no  means  exhaustive, 
of  foods  in  general  use  for  the  winter  feeding  of 
wild  birds ;  with  each  kind  of  food  will  be  found 
the  names  of  at  least  some  of  the  birds  which  have 
been  seen  eating  it. 

SUET.  Screech  owl,  hairy  woodpecker,  downy 
woodpecker,  red-bellied  woodpecker,  flicker,  blue 
jay,  crow,  Clark's  nutcracker,  starling,  tree 
sparrow,  junco,  rose-breasted  grosbeak,  myrtle 
warbler,  brown  creeper,  white-breasted  nuthatch, 
red-breasted  nuthatch,  chickadee,  Hudsonian 
chickadee,  hermit  thrush. 

FAT  PORK.  Hairy  woodpecker,  downy  wood- 
pecker, blue  jay,  crow,  white-breasted  nuthatch, 
tufted  titmouse,  chickadee. 

RAW  MEAT.  Screech  owl,  hairy  woodpecker, 
downy  woodpecker,  blue  jay,  white-breasted 
nuthatch,  chickadee. 

HEMP   SEED.     Pine  grosbeak,    purple   finch, 


Entertainment  in  Winter  139 

redpoll,  goldfinch,  pine  siskin,  vesper  sparrow, 
white-crowned  sparrow,  white-throated  sparrow, 
junco,  song  sparrow,  white-breasted  nuthatch, 
chickadee. 

MILLET  SEED.  Purple  finch,  redpoll,  gold- 
finch, pine  siskin,  vesper  sparrow,  white-throated 
sparrow,  tree  sparrow,  chipping  sparrow,  junco, 
song  sparrow,  fox  sparrow. 

CRACKED  CORN.  Shore  lark,  blue  jay,  crow, 
snow  bunting,  Lapland  longspur,  tree  sparrow, 
junco,  cardinal  grosbeak,  white-breasted  nut- 
hatch. 

BREAD  CRUMBS.  Blue  jay,  crow,  tree  sparrow, 
white-crowned  sparrow,  junco,  cardinal  gros- 
beak, mocking  bird,  brown  creeper,  chickadee. 

BROKEN  NUTS.  Blue  jay,  white-crowned 
sparrow,  junco,  cardinal  grosbeak,  white-breasted 
nuthatch,  red-breasted  nuthatch,  tufted  titmouse, 
chickadee. 

DOG  BISCUIT  CRUMBS.  Blue  jay,  snow  bunt- 
ing, tree  sparrow,  junco,  white-breasted  nuthatch, 
chickadee. 

SUNFLOWER  SEEDS.  Blue  jay,  purple  finch, 
goldfinch,  white-breasted  nuthatch,  chickadee. 

CHAFF.  Quail,  shore  lark,  Lapland  longspur, 
snow  bunting,  tree  sparrow. 

OATS.  Quail,  ruffed  grouse,  yellow-headed 
blackbird,  snow  bunting,  chickadee. 


140  Wild  Bird  Guests 

WHOLE  CORN.  Blue  jay,  crow,  white-breasted 
nuthatch,  chickadee. 

CANARY  SEED.  Goldfinch,  vesper  sparrow, 
junco,  song  sparrow. 

DOUGHNUT  CRUMBS.  Blue  jay,  crow,  white- 
breasted  nuthatch,  chickadee. 

WHEAT.     Quail,  ruffed  grouse. 

KAFFIR  CORN.  White-throated  sparrow,  song 
sparrow, 

BROKEN  SQUASH  SEED.  White-breasted  nut- 
hatch, chickadee. 

SALT,  SALT  WATER,  AND  MUD  IMPREGNATED 
WITH  SALT.  White-winged  crossbill,  American 
crossbill. 

The  author  is  very  well  aware  that  the  above 
lists  are  not  complete,  either  with  regard  to  the 
kinds  of  food  which  the  winter  birds  will  eat, 
or  with  regard  to  the  kinds  of  birds  which  will 
eat  the  foods  which  are  mentioned.  These  lists 
can  be  made  complete  only  as  a  result  of  the 
careful  experiments  of  many  observers  working 
for  a  considerable  period  over  a  wide  territory. 
At  present  they  are  as  complete  as  can  be  made 
from  other  records  compiled  by  Gilbert  H. 
Trafton,  by  the  author  himself,  and  by  other 
members  of  the  Meriden  Bird  Club.  They  will 
enable  the  reader  to  make  a  fair  start  and  he  can 


Jj 


Entertainment  in  Winter  141 

then  experiment  for  himself  as  much  as  time 
and  inclination  will  permit. 

In  addition  to  food,  many  birds  will  appreciate 
a  little  grit  which  is  often  hard  to  get  in  winter. 
Sand  is  best,  perhaps,  but  coal  ashes  will  do  and 
a  flock  of  crossbills  which  made  us  a  long  visit 
a  year  or  two  ago,  spent  hours  every  day  picking 
up  particles  of  mortar  which  we  obtained  from 
some  old  bricks  and  pounded  up  with  a  hammer. 
We  might  never  have  guessed  how  fond  they  were 
of  this  particular  kind  of  grit,  had  we  not  seen 
them  swarming  over  a  ruined  building,  and  dis- 
covered with  the  aid  of  a  field-glass  that  appar- 
ently they  were  nibbling  the  mortar  which  held 
the  bricks  together.  We  got  some  of  this  mortar, 
pounded  it  up,  and  scattered  it  on  well-trampled 
snow  in  the  garden  and  down  came  the  cross- 
bills, not  only  that  day  but  every  day  for  weeks. 
The  flock  usually  arrived  between  half-past  seven 
and  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  were  en- 
gaged in  eating  mortar  until  between  one  and 
two  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  greater  part  of 
them  disappeared  in  the  evergreen  forest  nearby, 
not  to  be  seen  again  until  the  following  morning. 
They  became  very  fearless,  coming  to  windows, 
allowing  us  to  walk  about  among  them  when 
they  were  feeding,  alighting  freely  on  our  hands 
and  heads,  and  even  permitting  us  to  pick  them 


142  Wild  Bird  Guests 

up,  one  in  each  hand.  When  sometimes  I  lay 
on  the  ground  among  them,  they  would  poke 
their  heads  into  my  sleeves  and  if  my  ulster  was 
not  tightly  buttoned,  some  of  them  would  creep 
inside.  While  they  were  in  the  garden  they 
kept  up  an  incessant  musical  twittering,  which 
added  greatly  to  the  pleasure  they  gave  us. 

But  to  return  to  our  work.  There  are  certain 
appliances  such  as  food  houses,  window  boxes, 
food  trolleys,  etc.,  which  it  is  very  pleasant  to 
have  and  which  may  be  made  at  home  or  by  local 
carpenters,  or  which  may  be  bought  ready-made. 
But  if  we  cannot  afford  either  the  time  to  make 
them  or  the  money  to  buy  these  things,  we 
can  get  along  pretty  well  without  them.  Let  us 
get  out  our  food  early.  The  birds  may  not  eat 
much  of  it  at  first,  but  they  will  have  a  chance 
to  find  out  where  it  is,  and  be  able  to  go  directly 
to  it  when  they  really  need  it.  We  might  begin 
by  putting  out  some  suet.  I  believe  in  having 
rather  large  pieces,  weighing  say  about  a  pound 
apiece,  at  a  few  principal  points  and  a  num- 
ber of  smaller  pieces  scattered  more  widely,  in 
order  to  attract  the  attention  of  as  many  birds 
as  possible  and  guide  them  to  the  larger  lumps. 
If  our  final  object  is  to  attract  the  birds  to  points 
near  the  house,  let  us  first  select  the  side  of  the 
house  to  which  we  wish  to  bring  them.  If  we 


Entertainment  in  Winter  143 

try  to  attract  them  to  all  sides,  we  can  probably 
do  it,  but  shall  not  have  as  many  in  any  one 
place.  Usually  people  like  to  have  them  come  to 
points  where  they  can  be  seen  from  the  principal 
living-room.  Suppose  then  that  we  decide  on 
this  plan.  Let  us  look  out  of  the  window  and  see 
if  we  can  find  a  tree  say  seventy-five  or  a  hundred 
feet  away  to  which  we  can  tie  one  of  our  lumps 
of  suet.  Let  us  suppose  that  we  see  such  a  tree, 
and  that  there  is  a  well-exposed  branch  from 
eight  to  twelve  feet  from  the  ground.  We  fix 
that  branch  in  our  minds,  and  suet  in  hand  we  go 
out  to  the  tree.  Perhaps  we  can  easily  climb  to 
the  branch ;  but  if  not,  we  can  get  a  ladder.  We 
should  have  three  or  four  pieces  of  soft  string  of 
convenient  length,  and  with  one  of  these  tie  the 
suet  at  just  the  place  and  in  just  the  position  we 
want  it.  It  is  well  to  have  it  either  on  top  of  the 
branch  or  on  the  side  of  it;  if  it  is  fastened 
underneath,  certain  birds  which  like  suet  would 
find  it  hard  to  get  at.  If  it  is  fastened  on  the  side 
of  the  branch,  of  course  it  should  be  on  the 
side  nearer  the  house  where  it  can  be  seen.  The 
other  pieces  of  string  should  now  be  crisscrossed 
back  and  forth,  and  should  bite  into  the  suet  a 
little  at  each  turn,  so  that  it  may  be  left  snug  and 
tight.  The  loose  ends  of  the  string  may  now  be 
cut  off  and  the  deed  is  done. 


144  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Next  let  us  go  to  a  tree  say  from  ten  to  twenty 
feet  from  the  window,  and  there  we  will  tie  a 
second  piece  of  suet  at  about  the  height  of  the 
window  itself.  A  third  piece  we  will  tie  either  to 
the  window-sill  or  to  a  stick  or  a  board  which  may 
be  fastened  to  the  window-sill.  Those  three  we 
will  call  our  main  suet  stations.  Smaller  pieces 
of  suet  we  will  tie  in  trees  and  shrubs  out  in  all 
directions  from  the  house  and  further  away  from 
it.  These  distant  ones  will  probably  be  visited 
first,  and  as  the  birds  gain  confidence  they  should 
come  nearer  and  nearer  until  they  come  to  the 
window  itself. 

To  encourage  those  who  may  think  it  a  difficult 
matter  to  gain  the  confidence  of  our  feathered 
neighbors,  I  give  the  following  list  of  twenty-two 
kinds  of  birds  which  have  come  to  feed  at  win- 
dows in  the  village  of  Meriden,  New  Hampshire, 
where  we  have  been  feeding  for  the  past  four 
years.  Those  marked  with  a  star  have  visited 
our  own  window: 

*  Hairy  woodpecker,  *  downy  woodpecker, 
*ruby-throated  humming  bird,  *blue  jay,  *pine 
grosbeak,  *purple  finch,  *white-winged  crossbill, 
*redpoll,  *pine  siskin,  vesper  sparrow,  white- 
crowned  sparrow,  white-throated  sparrow,  tree 
sparrow,  chipping  sparrow,  junco,  song  sparrow, 
*myrtle  warbler,  *winter  wren,  *white-breasted 


Entertainment  in  Winter  145 

nuthatch,  red-breasted  nuthatch,  *chickadee, 
*Hudsonian  chickadee.  This  is  probably  the 
largest  list  for  any  one  town  or  village. 

The  red-bellied  woodpecker,  snow  bunting, 
fox  sparrow,  brown  creeper,  and  hermit  thrush, 
have  also  been  known  to  feed  at  the  windows  of 
houses,  but  they  have  never  done  so  in  Meriden, 
though  we  have  them  all  here  with  the  exception 
of  the  woodpecker. 

If  it  becomes  necessary  to  put  out  more  suet 
during  the  intensely  cold  weather,  we  shall  find 
it  a  good  plan  to  bring  some  short  branches  into 
the  house,  and  tie  on  the  suet  there  in  comfort. 
Then,  if  we  drive  a  couple  of  wire  nails  part  way 
through  each  branch,  we  can  carry  it  out  and 
quickly  nail  to  any  tree  we  like. 

If  we  wish  to  go  to  just  a  little  more  expense, 
we  can  make  the  suet-pockets  of  half-inch  wire 
netting  and  staple  them  to  the  trunks  of  trees 
instead  of  tying  the  suet  itself  to  the  branches. 

The  simplest  way  to  feed  the  seed-eating  birds 
is  to  scatter  the  food  on  the  ground.  If  there 
is  soft,  deep  snow,  the  food  should  not  be  thrown 
upon  it.  Seed  and  most  other  foods  quickly 
sink  into  soft  snow,  and  besides  most  birds  do  not 
like  to  flounder  about  in  the  snowdrifts  in  order 
to  get  a  bite  to  eat.  The  snow  may  be  swept  or 
shovelled  away,  but  personally,  I  much  prefer 

10 


146  Wild  Bird  Guests 

to  trample  it  down.  It  is  not  easy,  even  with 
a  snow-shovel,  to  thoroughly  clear  a  generous 
space  where  there  is  long  grass  or  weeds ;  cleared 
spaces  are  apt  to  become  wet  or  muddy  and 
are  usually  unsightly.  The  trampling  process  is 
quicker,  much  quicker  if  we  have  snowshoes, 
it  makes  no  unsightly  patches,  and  moreover 
the  well-trodden  snow  forms  the  most  pleasing 
background  against  which  to  see  our  feathered 
guests. 

It  is  best  to  put  out  a  day's  supply  of  fresh 
food  each  morning;  the  birds  learn  to  connect 
our  appearance  with  the  coming  of  good  things 
for  them,  and  gradually  lose  their  fear  of  us. 
Moreover,  by  putting  out  comparatively  small 
quantities  of  food  we  avoid  the  danger  of  un- 
necessary waste  when  snowstorms  come  and 
cover  up  whatever  is  on  the  ground.  If  there 
is  danger  from  cats  we  should  select  for  our 
feeding  station  a  space  well  out  in  the  open;  if 
there  are  shrubs  or  other  tall  plants  about,  the 
cats  will  be  able  to  creep  up  within  leaping 
distance  before  the  birds  are  aware  of  their 
presence. 

This  much  we  can  do  without  any  appliances, 
and  at  no  expense  beyond  the  cost  of  the  food. 
But  some  of  us  will  wish  to  make  rather  more 
elaborate  preparations,  so  I  shall  now  describe 


Entertainment  in  Winter  147 

some  of  the  feeding  devices  which  I  have  tried 
and  found  satisfactory  for  attracting  birds  to  the 
home  grounds. 

The  Food  Tray 

One  of  the  simplest  devices  is  a  food  tray  or 
lunch  counter  which  anyone  can  make,  if  it  can 
be  said  to  need  making.  It  may  be  a  shallow 
cigar  box,  though  this  is  rather  small.  A  better 
one  could  be  made  from  a  piece  of  board  say  a 
foot  or  eighteen  inches  wide,  and  two  or  three 
feet  long  with  laths  or  similar  strips  of  wood 
nailed  around  to  form  a  rim,  so  that  the  seeds 
will  not  roll  off.  A  good-sized  hole  should  be 
bored  in  each  corner,  and  over  each,  on  the 
under  side  of  the  tray,  should  be  tacked  a  piece 
of  wire  netting.  This  will  prevent  the  tray  from 
becoming  full  of  water  when  it  rains.  Such  a 
tray,  with  a  stick  below  to  brace  it,  may  be 
fastened  to  a  tree,  to  the  window  sill,  or  both, 
and  if  a  supply  of  food  is  kept  in  it  all  the  time, 
the  birds  are  sure  to  find  it.  If  a  roof  is  arranged 
over  it,  it  becomes  a  "food  shelter/'  and  will 
not  require  sweeping  off  after  every  snowstorm. 
Besides  putting  seed  and  other  food  in  the  tray 
itself  we  sometimes  fasten  to  the  tray  an  upright 
branch  or  small  log  and  to  this  attach  a  piece 
of  suet.  This  is  for  the  convenience  of  any 


148  Wild  Bird  Guests 

woodpeckers  which  may  come,  though  it  is  not 
really  necessary  even  for  them. 

The  Window  Box 

Few  devices  have  given  more  satisfaction  to 
members  of  our  household  than  the  window 
box,  which  was  made  from  a  sketch  kindly  sent  to 
me  by  William  Dutcher,  President  of  the  Na- 
tional Association  of  Audubon  Societies.  It  is 
made  to  fit  the  open  window,  the  sash  coming 
down  snug  into  a  groove  in  the  woodwork  at  the 
top.  It  projects  into  the  room  about  a  foot.  The 
top,  back,  and  sides  are  of  glass,  which  helps  to 
give  the  room  a  cheerful  sunny  appearance. 
The  floor  of  the  box  is  of  wood  and  in  the  form  of 
a  tray  projects  into  the  garden  ten  or  twelve 
inches.  At  the  top,  and  inside  the  room,  of 
course,  is  a  hinged  lid  through  which  we  put  the 
food,  and  which  can  be  used  to  ventilate  the  room 
when  necessary.  This  window  box  has  proved  a 
great  success,  and  at  different  times  I  have  seen 
it  filled  with  blue  jays,  pine  grosbeaks,  redpolls, 
crossbills,  and  chickadees,  while  many  other 
birds  have  come  in  smaller  numbers.  At  first 
we  helped  the  birds  to  find  it  by  erecting  in  the 
garden,  about  ten  feet  from  the  window,  an  old 
stump  to  which  we  tied  big  lumps  of  suet.  Birds 


Entertainment  in  Winter  149 

began  to  come  to  the  stump  and  from  there  they 
would  come  to  the  feast  arranged  for  them  in  the 
window  box.  The  stump  was  then  removed  but 
the  birds  continued  to  come  to  the  window  in 
ever  increasing  numbers.  Some  people  prefer 
to  have  their  window  boxes  fastened  to  the 
window  sill  but  entirely  outside  the  window. 
This  is  almost  as  good  but  you  can't  have  the 
birds  quite  so  near,  and  it  is  not  quite  so  easy  to 
put  in  the  food.  On  the  other  hand,  almost 
anyone  can  make  an  outside  window  box,  while 
one  required  to  fit  the  sash  of  an  open  window 
well  enough  to  keep  out  the  draught,  must,  as  a 
rule,  be  made  by  a  carpenter. 

The  Weathercock  Food  House 

Another  device  suggested  to  me  by  Mr. 
Dutcher,  which  has  proved  equally  successful, 
is  what  I  have  named  the  "Weathercock"  food 
house,  because,  like  a  weathercock  it  moves  with 
the  wind.  It  is  little  more  than  a  well-made  food 
shelter,  set  on  a  pole,  and  pivoted  so  that  it  can 
revolve  horizontally.  Two  paddle-shaped  arms 
or  wings  extend  one  on  either  side  to  catch  the 
wind,  which  thus  turns  the  open  side  of  the  house 
away  from  the  storms  at  all  times.  The  back  is  a 
single  sheet  of  glass  and  sometimes  the  sides  are 


Entertainment  in  Winter  151 

also  of  glass.  All  kinds  of  winter  birds  and  a 
number  of  summer  birds,  too,  come  to  this  house, 
and  they  don't  mind  the  motion  of  it  any  more 
than  we  mind  the  motion  of  an  express  train, 
when  we're  sitting  in  the  dining-car. 

After  we  have  been  attracting  the  birds  for  a 
little  while,  every  corner  of  the  garden  will  have 
some  interesting  association  connected  with  the 
work,  every  device  or  appliance  we  have  used 
will  recall  some  delightful  or  amusing  incident. 
The  mere  mention  of  our  "Weathercock"  re- 
minds me  of  a  joke  it  once  helped  me  to  play. 
Mrs.  Baynes  had  for  some  time  been  busy  color- 
ing a  set  of  artificial  birds  made  of  cardboard 
which  she  intended  to  present  to  a  school.  She 
had  begun  work  on  the  blue  jay,  arid  asked  me  if 
I  could  find  for  her  a  good  picture  of  the  bird 
from  which  she  could  sketch  the  markings  of  the 
wings.  I  found  several  but  they  would  not  do, 
chiefly  because  they  showed  the  wings  folded, 
whereas  the  bird  she  was  making  had  the  wings 
extended.  At  last  I  said,  jokingly,  "Well,  I 
see  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  do  but  go  out  into 
the  garden  and  catch  you  a  live  one."  With  that 
I  walked  from  her  room  into  my  study,  and 
looking  out  of  the  window  saw  a  flock  of  blue 
jays  feeding  in  the  "Weathercock."  At  that 
moment  something  startled  them  and  out  they 


152  Wild  Bird  Guests 

flew, — all  but  one,  and  he  flew  into  the  glass 
at  the  back.  Then  he  lost  his  head,  and  began 
fighting  the  glass,  and  I  opened  the  front  door, 
walked  across  the  lawn,  and  caught  him.  Spread- 
ing out  one  of  his  wings,  I  went  back  into  Mrs. 
Baynes's  room,  and  without  a  trace  of  a  smile, 
asked,  "Will  this  do?"  You  can  imagine  her 
astonishment  better  than  I  can  describe  it.  She 
made  her  notes  on  the  marking  of  the  wings,  then 
we  put  an  aluminum  band  on  the  bird's  leg,  and 
let  him  go.  It  was  exactly  a  month  before  we  saw 
him  feeding  with  other  jays  in  the  window  box. 

The  Audubon  Food  House 

Then  Mr.  Frederic  H.  Kennard,  the  landscape 
architect,  sent  us  a  plan  of  a  food  house  which 
he  had  designed  and  found  successful  on  his  own 
estate  at  Newton  Centre,  Massachusetts.  It 
was  an  adaptation  of  a  device  invented  by  Baron 
Hans  von  Berlepsch,  the  great  German  bird 
lover,  of  whose  interesting  experiments  I  shall 
speak  again  later  on.  As  may  be  seen  in  the 
illustrations,  it  consists  of  two  food  trays,  one 
above  another,  the  upper  and  larger  being 
protected  from  the  snow  and  rain  by  a  four- 
sided  "hopper"  roof,  and  from  the  wind  by  an 
"apron"  of  glass  which  falls  from  the  roof,  the 


Entertainment  in  Winter 


153 


Plan  for  an  "  Audubon  "  food  house. 

whole  supported  by  a  single  rustic  pole  running 
to  the  peak.  We  called  this  the  "Audubon" 
food  house,  and  it  has  been  proved  a  success  in 
half  a  dozen  gardens  in  Meriden,  and  in  hundreds 
of  others  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  This 
food  house  should  be  erected  among  or  near 
shrubs  or  beneath  the  low-growing  branches  of  a 


154  Wild  Bird  Guests 

tree — at  least  it  is  in  such  a  place  that  it  will 
be  most  quickly  discovered  by  the  birds.  Until 
the  latter  become  acquainted  with  it,  food  should 
be  put  in  both  trays.  The  lower  and  unprotected 
tray  is  the  more  conspicuous  and  will,  of  course, 
be  seen  first.  When  the  food  has  gone  from  that, 
or  sometimes  before  it  has  gone,  some  of  the 
birds  will  find  their  way  to  the  upper  tray  and  the 
rest  will  soon  follow.  After  that  no  more  food 
need  be  put  in  the  lower  tray.  In  case  the  birds 
are  a  little  slow  in  finding  their  way  about,  one 
or  two  crooked  twigs  arranged  so  that  they 
connect  the  two  trays,  will  usually  show  the  little 
guests  their  way  "upstairs."  These  twigs  may 
be  removed  a  few  days  later.  The  glass  apron, 
in  addition  to  serving  as  a  protection  from  the 
wind,  admits  light  to  enable  the  birds  to  see  what 
they  are  doing,  and  also  permits  the  host  to  see 
his  guests  at  dinner.  For  several  years  now 
we  have  had  an  "Audubon"  food  house  in  our 
garden,  and  during  the  winter  there  is  a  continual 
stream  of  birds  going  to  and  from  that  house. 
Our  neighbors  report  similar  experiences.  Birds 
feeding  in  either  this  house  or  the  "Weathercock" 
would  be  in  little  danger  from  a  cat  even  though 
the  latter  should  climb  the  pole.  The  cat  would 
have  to  climb  around  over  the  under  side  of  the 
food  tray  and  while  the  birds  would  of  course 


Entertainment  in  Winter  155 

be  frightened  when  her  head  came  up  over  the 
rim,  they  would  have  plenty  of  time  to  escape 
before  she  would  be  in  a  position  to  spring  upon 
them. 

Several  adaptations  of  the  "Audubon"  food 
house  may  be  made  or  purchased,  the  most  inter- 
esting, perhaps,  being  one  which  has  a  food  hop- 
per under  the  roof  and  connected  with  the  upper 
tray  to  which  it  supplies  seed  as  fast  as  the  birds 
eat  it.  The  top  of  the  roof  is  removable  and  half 
a  bushel  or  more  of  seed  can  be  poured  in  at  once. 
This  is  a  very  good  style  of  house  for  people  who 
cannot  get  out  to  replenish  the  food  trays  them- 
selves, or  who  go  to  the  city  in  the  winter  and 
wish  to  be  sure  that  the  birds  are  fed  while  they 
are  away.  But  no  matter  what  kind  of  feeding 
device  is  used  by  people  who  are  away  from  their 
country  homes  during  the  winter,  it  is  nearly 
always  possible  to  arrange  to  have  a  country 
neighbor  replenish  the  food  as  it  is  needed. 

The  Food  Bell 

The  "food  bell"  is  another  device  invented  by 
von  Berlepsch,  and  used  especially  for  feeding 
titmice.  It  consists  of  a  glass  receptacle  holding 
a  quart  or  two  of  hemp  seed,  connected  at  the 
bottom  with  a  tube  down  which  the  seed  falls  to 


156  Wild  Bird  Guests 

supply  a  tiny  "food  dish,"  which  is  protected 
from  the  weather  by  a  metal  "bell,"  a  foot  in 
diameter,  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  It  can 
be  fastened  to  trees,  piazza  posts,  or  the  sides  of 
windows  by  means  of  iron  rods  which  are  screwed 
into  the  wood  above  and  below.  A  piece  of  suet 
or  a  net  bag  of  nut-meats  will  serve  to  guide  the 
birds  to  the  "food  dish"  in  the  first  instance. 
We  have  given  this  device  a  long  trial  in  Meriden, 
and  find  it  very  good  for  chickadees.  They  fly 
up  under  the  bell,  and  carry  off  the  hemp  seed 
one  at  a  time  to  some  near  perch.  Each  seed  is 
held  with  the  feet  while  the  shell  is  cracked  with 
the  bill.  A  recent  visitor  to  the  bird  sanctuary 
at  Meriden  was  delighted  to  find  that  the  chicka- 
dees came  to  the  food  bell  quite  unconcerned  while 
she  stood  with  her  hand  resting  on  the  bell. 

The  Food  Tree 

The  "food  tree"  is  simply  an  evergreen,  pre- 
ferably a  spruce,  fir,  or  hemlock,  covered  with 
bird  food.  A  discarded  Christmas  tree  will  answer 
the  purpose  very  well.  A  growing  tree  should 
not  be  used  as  the  following  treatment  will  kill  it. 
There  is  no  limit  as  to  size,  though  a  rather  small 
tree  will  be  found  more  convenient  in  every  way 
than  a  large  one.  I  generally  select  one  about 


Entertainment  in  Winter  157 

twelve  feet  high,  cut  off  all  branches  within  two 
or  three  feet  of  the  butt  before  setting  it  in  the 
ground,  not  too  far  from  my  window  to  get  a 
good  view  of  any  bird  visitors  who  may  come. 
This  much  may  be  done  in  the  fall,  but  beyond 
tying  on  a  piece  of  suet,  or  scattering  a  little 
seed  at  the  base,  perhaps,  it  is  best  not  to  go  any 
farther  until  the  coming  of  settled  cool  weather. 
Then  there  should  be  poured  over  the  twigs  and 
branches  bubbling  hot  bird  food  made  from  the 
following  receipt,  which  is  another  contribution 
from  Baron  Hans  von  Berlepsch. 

White  bread  (dried  and  ground) 4^  oz. 

Meat  (dried  and  ground) 3 

Hemp 6      " 

Crushed  hemp 3      " 

Maw 3      " 

Poppy  flour 2^  " 

Millet  (white) 3      " 

Oats i^" 

Dried  elderberries ij^  ' 

Sunflower  seeds 1^2  " 

Ants'  eggs i>^  " 

To  the  total  quantity  of  this  dry  food,  must  be 
added  about  one  and  one-half  times  as  much  beef 
or  mutton  suet  or  fat  of  almost  any  kind.  The 


158  Wild  Bird  Guests 

fat  must  be  melted  and  the  dry  food  stirred  in 
thoroughly. 

This  mixture,  bubbling  hot,  should  be  poured 
carefully  over  all  the  twigs  and  branches  of  the 
evergreen,  care  being  taken  to  keep  it  well 
sitrred  up  during  the  operation.  It  may  be 
poured  with  a  long-handled  ladle  held  in  one 
hand,  and  the  drip  can  be  caught  in  a  frying  pan 
or  something  similar,  held  in  the  other.  The 
cold  air  will  quickly  "set"  the  fat  with  all  the 
good  things  it  contains,  on  the  tree,  where  both 
insectivorous  and  seed-eating  birds  will  find  it, 
and  each  take  what  he  likes  best  from  the  variety 
of  food  offered.  If  there  is  any  of  the  mixture 
left  after  the  tree  is  covered,  it  may  be  poured 
into  molds  and  when  hard  served  as  "food-cake" 
or  "food-stone"  in  the  trays  or  food  houses. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  stick  very  closely  to  the 
receipt.  The  ground  dried  beef,  the  hemp  seed, 
and  the  bread  crumbs  should  always  be  used, 
and  of  course  the  fat  is  essential.  If  certain  of 
the  other  ingredients  cannot  readily  be  obtained, 
they  may  be  left  out,  or  other  good  foods,  such 
as  nuts  and  pumpkin  seeds,  ground  or  chopped, 
may  be  substituted  for  them.  Now  a  suggestion 
about  preparing  the  meat.  The  first  time  I 
made  this  food,  I  dried  the  raw  beef  and  at- 
tempted to  grind  it  afterwards ;  I  found  myself 


Entertainment  in  Winter  159 

in  trouble  at  once.  Next  time  I  found  it  very 
much  easier  to  grind  the  fresh  raw  beef  very  fine 
in  a  meat  grinder,  and  then  spread  it  out  thin  and 
dry  it  in  a  slow  oven.  When  dried  in  this  way 
it  may  be  readily  crumbled  and  mixed  with  the 
other  ingredients.  Probably  every  woman  knows 
this,  but  the  hint  may  be  useful  to  men  and 
children. 

Another  way  to  use  up  a  small  quantity  of 
the  mixture  is  to  pour  it  over  a  single  detached 
branch  of  an  evergreen  and  then  fasten  that 
branch  to  any  tree  in  the  garden. 

A  style  of  food  tree  very  popular  with  children 
is  one  on  which  the  food  is  hung  as  presents  are 
hung  on  a  Christmas  tree.  In  fact  it  is  some- 
times called  a  "Birds'  Christmas  Tree."  This 
may  be  either  a  freshly  cut  tree  stuck  in  the 
ground  or  almost  any  growing  tree  in  the  garden. 
To  the  branches  may  be  hung  net  bags  filled  with 
nuts  or  suet,  little  chunks  of  bacon,  doughnuts, 
and  similar  dainties,  or  cocoanuts,  each  with  a 
good-sized  hole  in  the  side  and  stuffed  with 
Berlepsch  bird  food,  suet,  or  any  other  food  that 
packs  well.  The  stuffed  cocoanut  was  suggested 
to  me  by  Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher,  who  fills  the  cavity 
with  fresh  pork  fat  and  black  walnut  kernels, 
and  fastens  the  nut  in  a  tree  at  his  camp  near 
Washington.  Chickadees,  tufted  titmice,  nut- 


160  Wild  Bird  Guests 

hatches,  downy  woodpeckers,  and  juncos  are 
among  the  birds  he  has  had  visit  him.  Some 
of  them  go  right  inside  the  nut  after  they  have 
eaten  all  the  food  which  can  be  reached  without 
doing  so. 

The  Food  Trolley 

The  food  trolley  is  simply  a  food  tray  or  lunch 
counter  provided  with  grooved  wheels  by  means 
of  which  it  can  be  made  to  glide  along  beneath 
a  wire  or  wires  stretched  between  some  point  in 
the  garden  and  a  higher  point, — say  an  upper 
window,  at  the  house.  Mr.  Gilbert  H.  Trafton 
describes  a  moving  food  tray  of  this  kind  which 
he  suspended  from  a  single  wire  by  means  of  two 
pulley  wheels  set  in  a  frame.  This  he  found,  on 
the  whole,  the  most  satisfactory  device  he  has 
tried. 

The  author's  food  trolley,  which  has  been  on 
duty  in  his  garden  for  several  years,  embodies  the 
same  general  idea.  It  consists  of  a  food  tray 
about  eighteen  inches  square,  slung  below  two 
wires  eighteen  inches  apart,  stretched  taut  at 
the  same  height  between  a  second-story  bed- 
room window  sill  and  a  wooden  bar  nailed  to  a 
branch  of  an  apple  tree  at  a  point  eight  feet  above 
the  ground  and  about  a  hundred  feet  from  the 
house.  Four  pulley  wheels  are  used,  one  on  each 


Barred  C ]ujf,^u6ua& 


Entertainment  in  Winter  161 

corner  of  the  tray,  but  the  two  nearer  the  house 
are  screwed  to  short  wooden  pillars  rising  from 
the  corresponding  corners  of  the  tray,  so  that 
although  the  wires  are  on  a  slant,  the  tray  itself 
remains  horizontal.  By  means  of  the  pulley 
wheels,  two  on  each  wire,  the  tray  glides  easily 
back  and  forth.  It  is  drawn  up  to  the  window  by 
a  string,  and  runs  back  down  to  the  apple  tree 
by  its  own  weight.  The  chief  use  of  the  food 
trolley  is  to  encourage  shy  birds  to  approach  the 
house  by  easy  stages.  The  plan  is  this.  The  tray 
is  drawn  up  to  the  window,  filled  with  bird  food, 
and  allowed  to  run  back  to  the  tree.  Timid 
birds  readily  come  to  the  tree  and  very  soon 
learn  to  feed  from  the  tray  which  they  find  there. 
As  soon  as  they  begin  to  come  freely,  the  tray 
may  be  drawn  up  a  few  feet  nearer  the  house. 
It  is  best  to  do  this  late  in  the  evening  after  the 
birds  have  finished  feeding  for  the  day,  and  not 
having  been  frightened,  when  they  return  in  the 
morning  they  will  not  hesitate  to  venture  the 
extra  few  feet  in  order  to  get  their  breakfast. 
Every  day  or  two  the  tray  may  be  drawn  a  little 
nearer  the  house  until  the  birds  find  themselves 
feeding  at  the  window. 

When  used  for  this  purpose,  it  is  best  to  have 
no  roof  over  the  tray;  very  timid  birds  are  afraid 
of  any  device  which  seems  to  shut  them  in.  As 


162  Wild  Bird  Guests 

for  the  snow,  it  is  easily  brushed  off  when  the  tray 
is  drawn  up  to  the  window.  Later  on,  of  course, 
if  the  trolley  is  to  be  used  for  feeding  purposes 
only,  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  construct  a 
simple  roof  for  it. 

No  doubt  the  reader  will  soon  think  of  other 
methods  and  invent  other  devices  for  feeding  the 
birds  in  winter,  but  in  the  meantime  those  I 
have  mentioned  will  serve  all  practical  purposes. 

Do  not  be  discouraged  if  the  birds  do  not 
accept  your  invitations  at  once.  While  some- 
times they  will  come  in  almost  immediately,  in 
many  cases  they  will  not  do  so  for  weeks  or  even 
months.  But  keep  food  out  all  the  time,  so  that 
when  they  do  come  they  will  find  a  good  reason 
why  they  should  come  again,  and  bring  their 
friends. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HOSPITALITY   ALL    THE    YEAR    'ROUND 

MOST  birds  will  appreciate  hospitality  at  any 
season.  To  some  of  them  at  certain  times,  it  is  a 
matter  of  life  and  death.  A  few  there  are  that 
we  cannot  assist  even  when  they  are  in  greatest 
need  of  assistance.  For  example,  in  a  preced- 
ing chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the  vast  num- 
ber of  birds  which  are  sometimes  killed  by  late 
spring  storms.  Some  of  these  birds,  which,  like 
the  purple  martins,  feed  almost  wholly  on  insects 
captured  on  the  wing,  we  may  find  it  impossible 
to  help.  But  there  are  many  other  birds  which 
naturally  take  their  food  on  the  ground  or  from 
the  trees  and  bushes  and  these  may  in  some  cases 
at  least  be  tided  over  for  a  few  days  until  fine 
weather  makes  it  possible  for  them  to  get  their 
own  living  again.  In  Meriden,  New  Hampshire, 
for  instance,  a  number  of  us  make  a  practice  of 
gathering,  in  the  fall,  the  berries  of  mountain 
ash,  wild  cherry,  and  other  food  plants,  and  dry- 
ing them  on  the  stalks  in  some  place  where 

163 


164  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  mice  cannot  get  at  them.  Next  spring,  if  a 
late  snowstorm  comes,  we  tie  these  berries  to 
the  branches  of  trees  and  shrubs  in  the  gardens, 
where  they  are  simply  gobbled  up  by  hungry 
robins,  bluebirds,  waxwings  and  others  whose 
natural  food  supply  has  been  cut  off  or  curtailed 
by  the  storm.  Meal  worms  are  even  more 
desirable  as  bird  food  at  such  times,  but  few 
people  have  a  good  stock  of  them  on  hand  and 
they  are  very  expensive  when  bought  from  cage- 
bird  dealers.  As  it  is  quite  a  simple  matter  to 
raise  these  so-called  "worms,"  almost  any  of 
us  can  be  prepared  to  care  for  the  insectivorous 
birds  made  temporarily  destitute  by  the  coming 
of  late  snowstorms.  The  writer,  in  anticipation 
of  the  perils  of  such  storms,  rears  meal  worms 
according  to  a  simple  method  recommended  by 
Professor  Clifton  F.  Hodge,  who  in  his  valuable 
book,  Nature  Study  and  Life,  has  this  to  say 
about  them: 

"The  best  insect  food  for  soft-billed  birds  is 
meal  worms,  and  every  child  that  wishes  to  help 
young  birds  (Professor  Hodge  here  refers  to 
birds  which  have  fallen  from  the  nest  or  which 
have  been  wounded)  should  learn  how  to  rear 
them  and  keep  a  supply  on  hand.  They  are  also 
excellent  food  for  winter  birds  and  for  robins 
and  bluebirds  and  many  others  that  come  early 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          165 

in  the  spring.  We  do  not  always  have  the  time 
to  collect  insects  in  sufficient  quantity,  but  we 
can  always  have  a  supply  of  meal  worms  if  we 
once  learn  how  to  feed  them. 

"The  meal  worm  is  the  larva  of  a  black  beetle 
which  can  be  found  from  May  to  October  about 
granaries,  mills,  where  feed  is  kept  in  stables,  in 
the  dust  in  haylofts,  in  pigeon  lofts,  and  meal 
chests.  The  eggs  are  laid  in  these  places  and 
when  hatched  and  fully  grown  the  larvae  are 
smooth,  yellow  (Tenebrio  molitor),  or  blackish 
(T.  obscurus),  'worms'  about  an  inch  in  length. 
While  commonly  looked  upon  as  pests,  for  feed- 
ing birds  they  are  well-nigh  indispensable.  The 
writer  has  paid  twenty-five  cents  a  dozen  for  them 
to  feed  mocking  birds,  and  the  market  price 
by  the  wholesale  is  $1.50  per  thousand.  If  we 
know  how  to  use  them,  the  worms  in  a  meal  chest 
may  thus  be  worth  many  times  the  value  of  the 
meal,  chest  and  all. 

"  Directions  in  the  bird  books  for  raising  meal 
worms  are  quite  misleading  and  in  order  to  go 
to  work  intelligently,  we  must  learn  the  life  from 
egg  to  egg.  The  first  fact  to  learn  is  that  the 
insect  is  single  brooded,  i.  e.,  it  requires  an  entire 
season  to  complete  its  growth.  The  beetles  may 
be  found  laying  eggs  from  May  until  freezing 
weather  in  the  fall.  The  early  eggs  will  produce 


1 66  Wild  Bird  Guests 

larvae  which  are  full-grown  by  September  or 
October  of  the  same  season,  and  larvae  from  the 
late  eggs  do  not  attain  their  full  growth  until 
about  midsummer  of  the  next  season.  A  female 
beetle  lays  from  twenty  to  fifty  eggs.  While 
practically  any  farinaceous  material — corn  meal, 
ground  feed,  cracker  crumbs,  bread  crusts — is 
suitable,  feeding  experiments  have  proved  that 
wheat,  in  some  form  or  other,  is  preferred  and 
yields  the  best  specimens. " 

Professor  Hodge  suggests  that  the  best  way  to 
rear  a  supply  of  meal  worms  is  to  take  a  good- 
sized  tight  box  or  earthen  jar,  half  fill  it  with 
ground  feed,  corn  meal,  oatmeal,  ground  wheat, 
bread  crusts — any  or  all  of  them — some  scraps 
of  leather,  a  raw  potato  or  two  to  supply  water, 
and  last  and  most  important,  drop  into  it  a  few 
hundred  larvae  or  beetles.  They  should  be 
covered  with  cloths — woolen  ones  are  best,  but 
cotton  ones  or  burlap  are  almost  as  good,  and 
over  all  there  should  be  a  lid  of  wire  screening. 
The  potatoes  should  be  renewed  as  they  are 
eaten ;  otherwise  the  insects  should  be  left  alone. 
If  the  original  stock  is  started  about  April,  you 
should  have  a  fine  lot  of  meal  worms  for  use  by 
the  fall.  After  that  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to 
keep  a  supply  on  hand  for  feeding  after  cold 
spring  storms  and  in  other  emergencies. 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          167 

But  it  is  not  only  at  special  times  like  those 
during  or  following  severe  weather  that  birds 
are  attracted  by  food ;  they  need  it  all  the  year 
round,  and  they  are  obliged  to  go  somewhere 
to  get  it.  And,  just  as  men  who  go  to  business 
must  live  within  convenient  distance  of  their 
work,  so  birds  must  make  their  homes  within 
easy  reach  of  their  food  supply.  Consequently, 
if  we  desire  to  entertain  a  great  many  different 
kinds  of  bird  guests  in  spring  and  summer,  our 
best  plan  will  be  to  give  them  both  food  and 
nesting  sites  in  our  own  gardens,  woods,  and 
pastures.  In  no  other  one  way,  perhaps,  can 
this  be  so  well  done  as  by  properly  planting  for 
the  birds  the  kinds  of  trees,  shrubs,  and  creepers 
which  are  attractive  because  they  furnish  food, 
shelter,  and  nesting  sites.  Of  the  latter  I  shall 
speak  at  greater  length  later  on,  but  naturally 
many  of  the  trees  and  shrubs  which  offer  food  and 
shelter  will  be  used  by  the  birds  to  build  their 
nests  in.  A  bit  of  convincing  proof  of  the  value 
of  "cover"  as  an  attraction  for  birds  is  to  be  seen 
at  "The  Pines,"  the  estate  of  my  friend  Frederic 
H.  Kennard,  at  Newton  Centre,  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  Kennard,  in  an  article  published  in  the 
National  Geographic  Magazine,  thus  describes  it: 

"We  have  had  for  eight  years  under  close 
observation  about  forty-four  acres,  comprising 


168  Wild  Bird  Guests 

three  acres  of  lawn  dotted  with  a  few  old  apple 
trees,  six  acres  of  wet  meadow,  which  are  allowed 
to  grow  up  with  tussocks  of  grass,  cedars,  alders, 
wild  roses,  and  the  like,  and  the  remaining 
thirty-five  acres  divided  in  two  areas  of  about 
equal  size.  The  first  of  these  areas,  that  about 
the  house,  is  covered  with  a  growth  of  pines, 
hemlocks,  cedars,  birches,  and  various  other 
deciduous  trees,  among  which  we  have  taken 
pains  to  cultivate  suitable  coppice  and  under- 
growth, while  the  second  area,  covered  with 
deciduous  woods,  is,  on  account  of  a  fire  that 
ran  through  it  a  number  of  years  ago,  almost 
devoid  of  the  smaller  evergreens  or  protecting 
coppice  and  undergrowth. 

"In  the  first  of  these  areas  some  thirty  different 
species  of  birds  breed  nearly  every  year,  while 
in  the  second  area  only  from  three  to  five  differ- 
ent species  build  their  nests." 

That  the  reader  might  have  the  very  best  in- 
formation obtainable  on  this  subject,  the  writer 
sought  the  advice  of  Mr.  Kennard,  who  kindly 
consented  to  prepare  a  sub-chapter  which  follows. 

TREES,  SHRUBS,  AND  VINES  ATTRACTIVE  TO  BIRDS 

"  It  is  probable  that  the  fruits  of  nearly  all  our 
trees,  shrubs,  and  vines  are  eaten  sometimes  by 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          169 

some  kinds  of  birds,  provided  they  are  hungry 
enough.  The  following  is  a  list  of  those  species 
native  to  the  northeastern  United  States,  whose 
fruits  are  known  to  be  eaten  by  birds.  This  list, 
first  published  in-  Bird*-Lofe, July-August,  1912, 
has  been  revised,  fruiting  seasons  added,  and 
though  still  necessarily  incomplete,  brought  as 
nearly  up  to  date  as  possible. 

"The  fruits  of  those  marked  with  three  asterisks 
are  known  to  have  been  eaten  by  thirty  or  more 
different  species  of  birds,  while  those  marked 
with  two  asterisks  are  known  to  have  been  eaten 
by  at  least  ten  species  of  birds,  as  indicated  by 
stomach  examinations.1  Those  marked  with 
one  asterisk  are  known,  from  general  observation, 
to  be  very  attractive  to  certain  birds,  and  several 
of  them  might,  except  for  present  lack  of  accurate 
data,  be  given  a  second  asterisk.  Some  of  these 
more  than  make  up,  in  the  number  of  individual 
birds  they  attract,  for  the  fact  that  they  may 
not  happen  to  prove  attractive  to  a  large  number 
of  species.  It  is  known,  for  instance,  that  the 
fruits  of  the  sour  gum,  gooseberries,  currants, 
and  snowberry,  are  each  eaten  by  at  least  ten 
species  of  birds,  and  consequently  each  are 
marked  with  two  asterisks ;  but  it  seems  probable 

1  "Plants  Useful  to  Attract  Birds  and  Protect  Fruit,"  by  W.  L. 
McAtee  from  Year  Book  of  Department  of  Agriculture  for  1909. 


Wild  Bird  Guests 


that  the  mountain  ash  with  its  persistent  fruit 
fed  upon  throughout  the  winter  by  flocks  of 
robins,  cedar  birds,  grosbeaks,  purple  finches, 
and  others,  may  attract  a  greater  number  of 
individuals  than  many  of  those  species  marked 
with  two  asterisks;  while  the  gray  birch  with 
the  winter  flocks  of  goldfinches,  redpolls,  siskins, 
juncos,  etc.,  that  feed  upon  its  seeds,  probably 
attracts  a  far  greater  number  of  birds  than  some 
of  those  species  marked  with  three  asterisks. 


A  LIST  OF  TREES,  SHRUBS,  AND  VINES 

TIVE  TO  NORTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES, 
BEARING  FRUIT  ATTRACTIVE  TO  BIRDS 


DECIDUOUS  TREES 

*Acer  Negundo,  ash-leaved  maple 

"  saccharum,  sugar  maple; 
and  doubtless  other  maples, 
including  A .  rubrum,  red 
maple  and  A.  saccharinum, 
silver  maple 

Alnus  incana,  smooth  alder 
"       rugosa,  speckled  alder 

*Betula  populifolia,  American 
gray  birch 

*Betula  hitea,  yellow  birch;  and 
doubtless  other  birches,  in- 
cluding Betula  nigra,  black 
birch 


FRUITING  SEASON 

September- 
through  winter 
September- 
October 


May-June 
September-March 
September-March 
September- 
through  winter 
October-through 

winter 
May-June 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round         171 

DECIDUOUS  TREES  FRUITING  SEASON 

Gary  a    sp.,    several    kinds    of  September- 
hickory  November 

**Celtis  occidentalis,  hackberry  September- 
through  winter 

Cercis  canadensis,  red-bud  September- 
January 

***Cornus  florida,   flowering   dog-  August-December 

wood 

**Crat&gus     Arnoldiana,      white  August-September 

thorn 

**Crat(Bgus    Crus-galli,    cockspur  Late  August- 
thorn  March 

**Crat(zgus     rotundifolia,     white  September- 
thorn  November 

**Crat(zgus  submollis,  white  thorn ;  September 

and  others  of  this  genus 

Diospyros    virginiana,    Persim-  October- 

mon  November 

Fagus     americana,      American  October- 
beech  November 

*Fraxinus  americana,  American  September- 
white  ash ;  and  probably  other  January 
species 

**Ilex  opaca,  American  holly  October-through 

winter 

*Larix  americana,  larch  October-March 

Liquidambar  Styraciflua,  sweet  October-March 

gum 

Liriodendron    Tulipifera,    tulip  September- 
tree  November 


172 


Wild  Bird  Guests 


DECIDUOUS  TREES 

***Morus  rubra,   native  red  mul- 
berry 

**Nyssa  sylvatica,  tupelo 
Ostrya  virginiana,  hornbeam 
Platanus      occidentalis,      syca- 
more 

Populus    sp.     Various    species 
of  poplars  are  sometimes  fed 
upon 
***Prunus     pennsylvanica,     bird 

cherry 

***Prunus  ptimila,  sand  cherry 
***      "      serotina,  black  cherry 
***      "      virginiana,  choke  cherry 
*Pyrus  americana,  mountain  ash 
Quercus  sp.     Several  species  of 

oaks 

Sassafras  variifolium,   sassafras 
Ulmus   americana,    American 
elm;     and     doubtless     other 
species 


FRUITING  SEASON 

June-August 

August-October 
August-October 
October-April 

May-June 


June-October 

June-August 

July-November 

July-August 

August-March 

September- 

Novembei 
July-September 
May 


EVERGREEN  TREES 


FRUITING  SEASON 


**Juniperus  virginiana,  red  cedar  Throughout      the 

year 

**                   communis,     common  Throughout     the 

juniper  year 

*Picea  canadensis,  white  spruce  September -winter 

*     "     rubra,    red    spruce;    and  October-winter 
undoubtedly  P.  nigra 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          173 

EVERGREEN  TREES  FRUITING  SEASON 

*Pinus  rigida,   pitch   pine;  and  October-March 
doubtless  P.  resinosa,  Norway 
pine 

*Pinus  Strobus,  white  pine  September- 
October 

Thuya  occidentalis,   arbor  vitas  September- 
October 

*Tsuga  canadensis,  hemlock  October-March 

SHRUBS  FRUITING    SEASON 

**Amelanchier    canadensis,    shad  June-October 

bush ;  and  other  species 

**Benzoin  cestivale,  spice  bush  August-November 

*Berberis  vulgaris,  barberry  (nat-  August-May 

uralized) 

Clethra  alnifolia,  sweet  pepper-  September- 
bush  through  winter 

Corema  Conradii,  broom  crow-  June-July 

berry 

***Cornus  alternifolia,  blue  cornel  July-September 

amomum,  silky  cornel  August-October 

***      "      paniculata,   gray  cornel  August-October 

***      "       stolonifera,  red  osier ;  and  Late  June-through 
probably  other  species  winter 

Corylus    americana,    American  July-September 

hazel 

Dirca  palustris,  leatherwood  May- June 

Elaagnus  argentea,  silver-berry  July-through 

winter 
Empetrum  nigrum,  crowberry        Throughout  year 


174  Wild  Bird  Guests 


SHRUBS  FRUITING  SEASON 

Evonymus  atropurpureus,  burn-     August-January 

ing  bush 

**Gaylussacia  ca  cata,  huckleberry     July-September 
**Gaylussacia    frondosa,    dangle-     June-September 

berry 

**Ilex  glabra,  inkberry  Throughout  year 

**    "    verticillata,  black  alder  July-through 

winter 
**    "    lavigata,  winterberry  August-through 

winter 

*Ligustrum      vulgare,      common     Late  July-through 
privet  (naturalized)  winter 

Lonicera  canadensis,  fly  honey-     June-August 

suckle 

Lonicera     carulea,     hairy     fly     June—March 
honeysuckle ;    and     doubtless 
other  species 

Myrica  asplenifolia,  sweet  fern       September- 
October 

**  carolinensis,  bayberry          July-May 

Nemopanthus  mucronata,  moun-     Jul}r-September 

tain  holly 

Prunus  maritime,,  beach  plum        August-October 
*Pyrus  arbutifolia,  chokeberry          October-through 

winter 
*     "     melanocarpa,  dogberry  July-through 

winter 
*Rhamnus  cathartica,  buckthorn     August-April 

(naturalized) 

***Rhus       canadensis,       fragrant     July-September 
sumach 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          175 


SHRUBS 

***Rhus  copallina,  dwarf  sumach 
***     "     glabra,  smooth  sumach 
***     "     Toxicodendron,  poison  ivy 
***     "     typhina,  staghorn  sumach 
Vernix,  poison  sumach 


*** 


**Ribes  Cynosbali,  prickly  goose- 
berry 

**Ribes  floridum,  black  currant 

**  "  lacustre,  swamp  black  cur- 
rant 

**Ribes  vulgar e,  red  currant  (nat- 
uralized) ;  and  undoubtedly 
all  other  species  of  currants 
and  gooseberries 

**Rosa  humilis,  wild  rose 


** 


nitida,  wild  rose 


virginiana,  wild  rose;  it  is 
probable  that  the  fruits  of  all 
the  native  wild  roses,  particu- 
larly the  smaller  fruited 
species,  are  eaten  largely  by 
birds 

***Rubus  allegheniensis,  wild 
blackberry 

***Rubus  canadensis,  thornless 
blackberry 

***Rubus  frondosus,  high-bush 
blackberry 


FRUITING  SEASON 

Throughout  year 


August-through 

winter 
June-September 

August-September 
July-August 

June-August 


August-through 

winter 

August-through 

winter 

August-through 

winter 


July-September 
July-September 
July-August 


176  Wild  Bird  Guests 

SHRUBS  FRUITING  SEASON 

***Rubus     idceus     aculeatissimus,     July-October 

wild  red  raspberry 

***Rubus  occidentalis,  thimbleberry     July-August 
***     "      triflorus,  dwarf  raspberry     June-September 
***Sambucus  canadensis,  common     August-October 

elder 
***Sambucus  racemosa,  red-berried     June-August 

elder 
Shepherdia     canadensis,     shep-     June-September 

herdia 
**Symphoricarpos     racemosuSj     September- 

snowberry  through  winter 

**Symphoricarpos  orbiculatus,  In-     October-April 

dian  currant 
***Vaccinium    c&spitosum,    dwarf     July-September 

billberry 
***Vaccinium     corymbosum,  high-     June-September 

bush  blueberry 

***Vaccinium  pennsylvanicum,  low     June— September 
bush  blueberry;  and  doubtless 
other  species 
** Viburnum     acerifolium,     dock-     August-March 

mackie 
** Viburnum    alnifolium,   hobble-     August-March 

bush 
** Viburnum    cassinoides,    withe-     August-January 

rod 
** Viburnum     dentatum,     arrow-     August-October 

wood 

**  Viburnum  Lentago,  sheepberry     August-March 
**        "  nudum,  withe-rod          August- January 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          177 

SHRUBS  FRUITING  SEASON 

** Viburnum    Opulus,    high-bush  July- April 

cranberry 

**  Viburnum    prunifolium,    black  August- January 

haw;     and     doubtless     other 

species 

VINES  FRUITING    SEASON 

Arctostaphylos    Uva-ursi,    bear-  September- 
berry  through  winter 

*Celastrus  scandens,  false  bitter-  October-through 

sweet  winter 

Chio genes   hispidula,   creeping  July-through 

snowberry  winter 

Menispermum  canadense,  moon-  September- 
seed  through  winter 

Milchella      repens,      partridge-  Throughout  the 

berry  year 

**Psedera    quinquefolia,    Virginia  September- 
creeper  February 

**Psedera  vitacea,  Virginia  creeper  August-February 

Rubus  Chamcemorus  cloudberry  June-August 

*Smilax  rotundifolia,  bull  briar  August-through 

winter 

Vaccinium   macrocarpon,    cran-  October-through 

berry  winter 

Vaccinium     Oxycoccus,     dwarf  October-through 

cranberry  winter 

**  Vitis  cestivalis,  summer  grape  Late  August- 
through  winter 

12 


1 78 


Wild  Bird  Guests 


VINES 

**Vitis  cor dif olia,  frost  grape 

**     "     labrusca,  fox  grape 
**     « 


vulpina,  frost  grape 


FRUITING  SEASON 

August-October 
August-October 
July-October 


"There  are  a  good  many  introduced  species 
whose  fruits  are  known  to  be  eaten  by  our  birds, 
and  the  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  those  that 
have  proved  to  be  particularly  attractive. 

INTRODUCED  SPECIES 


TREES 

**Crat(Bgus    Oxyacaniha,    English 

hawthorn 

**Crat<zgus  Ph&nopyrum,    Wash- 
ington thorn 

*Larix  decidua,  European  larch 
***Morus  alba,  white  mulberry 
***Prunus  pendula,  Japanese  weep- 
ing cherry 
***Prunus      Sargentii,      Sargent's 

cherry 
*Pyrus     Aucuparia,     European 

mountain  ash 

*Pyrus   baccate,    Siberian   crab- 
apple 

*Pyrus     floribunda,      flowering 
crab-apple 


FRUITING  SEASON 

August-through 

winter 

October-through 
winter 

October-March 

June—August 

June-October 

June 

August-through 

winter 
September-May 

September-May 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          179 

EVERGREENS  FRUITING  SEASON 

*Picea  A  bies,  Norway  spruce  October-through 

winter 

*Pseudotsuga   taxifolia,    Douglas     September- 
spruce  through  winter 
*Taxus  cuspidata,  Japanese  yew     August-September 

SHRUBS  FRUITING  SEASON 

Berberis    Thunbergii,    Japanese  August-May 

barberry 

*Lonicera  Morrowii,  bush  honey-  July-through 

suckle  winter 

*Lonicera  tatarica,  bush  honey-  July-through 

suckle  winter 

**Rosa  multiflora  September- 
through  winter 

VINES  FRUITING  SEASON 

*Celastrus       orbiculatus,       false     October-through 
bittersweet  winter 

*P  seder  a     tricuspidata,  Boston     September- 
ivy  through  winter 

"As  the  above  lists  are  rather  long,  and  for 
those  who  may  contemplate  doing  any  planting, 
perhaps  difficult  to  choose  from,  the  writer 
suggests  the  following  species  as  among  the  best 
for  providing  birds  with  a  continuous  supply 
of  food  throughout  the  year.  The  deciduous 


i8o  Wild  Bird  Guests 

species  are  arranged  according  to  season  and  the 
evergreens  in  a  class  by  themselves. 

"  Various  considerations  have  influenced  their 
choice,  beside  their  comparative  attractiveness 
as  food  supply;  such  as  beauty  of  flower,  fruit, 
and  form ;  time  and  duration  of  fruiting  season ; 
supply  of  nesting  sites  and  cover;  their  ability 
to  attract  birds  away  from  the  cultivated  fruits; 
and  last,  but  not  necessarily  least,  their  attrac- 
tiveness to  those  insectivorous  birds  that  feed 
upon  the  insects  that  may  inhabit  them. 

SUMMER 

TREES 


*** 
*** 
*** 


''Morus  alba,  white  mulberry.     (Introduced.) 

rubra,  native  red  mulberry. 
''Prunus  pennsylvanica,  bird  cherry. 


SHRUBS 

**Amelanchier  canadensis,  shad  bush. 
***Cornus  alternifolia,  blue  cornel. 
*Lonicera  tatarica,  Tartarian  honeysuckle.    (In- 
troduced.) 
**Sambucus  racemosa,  red-berried  elder. 

"Among  the  trees,  the  fruit  of  the  white  mul- 
berry seems  to  be  even  more  of  a  favorite  than 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          181 

that  of  our  native  species.  Of  the  shrubs,  the 
early  blooming  and  fruiting  shad  bush  is  import- 
ant, while  the  red-berried  elder  is  perhaps  the 
most  popular  fruit  of  all. 

AUTUMN 

TREES 

***Cornus  florida,  flowering  dogwood. 
**Crat<zgus  Arnoldiana,  white  thorn. 
***Prunus  serotina,  bird  cherry. 

SHRUBS 

***Cornus  Amomum,  silky  cornel. 
paniculata,  gray  cornel. 
***Sambucus  Canadensis,  common  elder. 
** Viburnum  cassinoides,  withe-rod. 
dentatum,  arrow-wood. 

VINES 

**Vitis  vulpina,  frost  grape.  m 

"The  flowering  dogwood,  with  its  beautiful 
spring  blossoms  and  its  attractive  fruit,  fed 
upon  in  the  early  autumn  by  a  large  number  of 
individuals  of  numerous  species,  should  be  in- 
cluded in  every  garden.  Cratcegus  Arnoldiana  is 
one  of  those  recently  separated  species  of  white 
thorn  originally  known  as  C.  coccinea,  which  has 


1 82  Wild  Bird  Guests 

proved  at  the  Arnold  Arboretum  to  be  one  of  the 
best  and  most  attractive  of  the  earlier  ripening 
species. 

"Of  the  cornels  and  viburnums  there  seems 
to  be  but  little  choice,  they  are  all  good.  The 
common  elder  fruits  a  little  later  than  the  red- 
berried  elder,  and  like  it  should  be  planted  in 
every  garden. 

WINTER 

TREES 

*Betula  populifolia,  gray  birch. 
**Crat<zgus  Crus-galli,  cockspur  thorn. 

*Pyrus  Aucuparia,   European  mountain  ash. 
(Introduced.) 

*Pyrus  baccata,  Siberian  crab-apple.     (Intro- 
duced.) 

SHRUBS 

*Berberis  vulgaris,  barberry. 
**Ilex  verticillata,  black  alder. 

*Ligustrum  vulgare,  common  privet. 

*Rhamnus  cathartic  a,  buckthorn. 
**  Viburnum  Lentago,  sheepberry. 
**  "  prunifolium,  black  haw. 

VINES 

**Psedera  quinquefolia,  Virginia  creeper. 
**Fitis  czstivalis,  summer  grape. 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          183 

"  Of  the  trees  for  winter  food  supply,  the  gray 
birch  is  one  of  the  most  attractive.  In  summer 
and  autumn  it  is  visited  by  many  kinds  of  birds 
in  search  of  the  insects  that  it  harbors,  and  in 
winter  it  seems  a  particular  favorite  with  all  the 
smaller  finches  and  sparrows  that  flock  about  it. 
Of  the  mountain  ashes,  the  European  is  the  finer 
tree,  and  very  attractive  to  robins,  cedar  birds, 
and  the  larger  finches,  and  no  garden  should  be 
without  it.  The  Siberian  crab-apple  with  its 
great  quantities  of  persistent  fruit  has  proved  to 
be  one  of  the  very  best. 

"Of  the  shrubs,  our  common  barberry  should 
always  be  planted.  The  black  alder  with  its 
persistent  red  berries,  is  one  of  our  most  beau- 
tiful winter  shrubs.  The  common  privet,  the 
fruit  of  which  seems  only  to  be  eaten  when  the 
supply  of  other  fruits  is  exhausted,  proves  very 
acceptable  late  in  the  winter;  while  the  buck- 
thorn is  one  of  the  greatest  favorites,  and  is 
another  of  those  shrubs  that  should  be  found  in 
every  plantation. 

SPRING 

TREES 

**Cratagus    Phcenopyrum,  Washington  thorn. 
(Introduced.) 


184  Wild  Bird  Guests 

*Larix  americana,  American  larch. 
*     "      decidua,  European  larch.   (Introduced.) 
*Pyrus  floribu nda,  flowering  crab-apple.     (In- 
troduced.) 

SHRUBS 

*Berberis  Thunbergii,  Japanese  barberry.    (In- 
troduced.) 
**Rosa  sp. 

**Rosa  multiflora.     (Introduced.) 
***Rhus  sp.  (non-poisonous.) 
**  Viburnum  Opulus,  high-bush  cranberry. 

VINES 

*Celastrus  Orbiculatus,  false  bittersweet.     (In- 
troduced.) 

*Celastrus  scandens,  false  bittersweet. 
*Psedera  tricuspidata,  Boston  ivy. 

"The  above  species  are  listed  as  a  spring  food 
supply,  not  because  their  fruits  ripen  in  the 
spring,  but  because  ripening  in  the  summer  or 
autumn,  they  hang  on  or  persist  until  spring, 
unless  previously  eaten  by  the  birds.  The 
Washington  thorn  is  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
our  native  species,  perfectly  hardy,  though  not 
indigenous  to  the  northeastern  United  States, 
and  is,  with  its  handsome  fruit,  a  great  favorite 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          185 

with  several  species  of  birds.  Of  the  larches, 
the  European  is  the  finer  of  the  two,  and  both 
are  favorites  with  crossbills,  pine  grosbeaks,  and 
the  smaller  finches,  and  in  the  early  spring  are 
visited  by  many  warblers  and  other  birds  in 
search  of  the  insects  that  are  to  be  found 
there. 

"  The  Japanese  barberry  is  included  in  this  list 
of  shrubs,  not  because  its  berries  are  eaten  by 
many  birds,  for  quail  and  partridge  are  the  only 
species  I  know  of  that  eat  it  habitually;  but 
because  it  makes  one  of  the  very  finest  hedge 
plants,  impenetrable  alike  to  dog  or  cat,  and, 
because  of  its  compact  method  of  growth,  fur- 
nishes a  favorite  nesting  site  for  many  of  our 
smaller  birds. 

"  The  fruits  of  many  of  our  native  wild  roses 
persist  throughout  the  winter;  R.  humilis,  R. 
nitida,  and  R.  virginiana  are  good,  and  may  be 
planted  along  the  walls  and  roadsides.  R.  mul- 
tiflora  grows  either  as  a  shrub  or  vine,  and  is, 
with  its  beautiful  clusters  of  flowers  and  fruits, 
one  of  the  finest  of  the  introduced  species. 
The  fruits  of  all  the  sumachs  persist  throughout 
the  year  and  are  fed  upon  by  numerous  birds. 
Either  of  the  large  species,  R.  glabra  or  R. 
typhina,  with  its  wonderful  autumn  foliage,  is 
fine;  while  of  the  smaller  species,  Rhus  copal- 


1 86  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Una  is  attractive.  The  high-bush  cranberry  is 
very  attractive  to  the  eye,  both  in  flower  and 
in  fruit;  and  its  conspicuous  berries,  persisting 
throughout  the  spring  when  other  food  is  scarce, 
are  eaten  voraciously  by  numerous  species  of 
birds,  and  no  garden  should  be  without  it. 

"Of  the  vines  listed  above,  the  introduced  false 
bittersweet  bears  its  fruit  a  little  more  freely 
and  retains  it  a  little  longer  than  the  native 
species.  All  the  vines  listed  for  the  various 
seasons  are  attractive  and  should  be  planted 
wherever  possible.  Boundary  walls,  old  fences, 
or  ugly  out-buildings  are  appropriate  places. 

ATTRACTIVE  EVERGREENS 

**Juniperus  virginiana,  red  cedar. 
*Picea  Abies,  Norway  spruce.     (Introduced.) 
canadensis,  white  spruce. 
nigra,  black  spruce. 
*     "     rubra,  red  spruce. 
*Pinus  strobus,  white  pine. 

resinosa,  Norway  pine. 

*Pseudotsuga  taxifolia,   Douglas  spruce.     (In- 
troduced.) 

*Taxus    cuspidata,    Japanese    yew.      (Intro- 
duced.) 
*Tsuga  canadensiSy  hemlock. 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          187 

"Evergreens,  although  the  seeds  of  the  various 
species  may  fall  in  the  autumn,  winter,  or  spring, 
are  placed  in  a  class  by  themselves  because  their 
usefulness  throughout  the  entire  year  can  hardly 
be  overstated.  The  red  cedar,  whose  fruit  per- 
sists throughout  the  year,  and  is  fed  upon  by 
at  least  twenty-five  species  of  birds,  is  probably 
the  most  popular  tree  in  the  country  for  nesting 
sites,  and  is  the  hunting  ground  for  countless 
warblers  and  other  insectivorous  birds.  The 
spruces  are  almost  as  popular,  as  are  also  the 
pines  and  hemlocks,  and  all  of  them  furnish 
protection  in  winter,  as  well  as  shade  in  summer. 
Of  our  native  spruces,  P.  canadensis  and  P. 
rubra  seem  only  to  flourish  in  the  higher  altitudes 
or  in  the  more  northern  States  and  are  rather 
difficult  to  grow  successfully  elsewhere.  In 
Eastern  Massachusetts  P.  canadensis  is  perhaps 
the  better  tree,  as  P.  rubra  grows  but  slowly. 
P.  nigra,  which  is  better  adapted  for  lower  al- 
titudes, and  ordinarily  drags  out  its  weary, 
straggling  existence  in  our  swamps,  will  some- 
times do  well  if  planted  in  dryer  soil. 

"For  those  who  do  not  live  in  a  locality  where 
our  native  spruces  can  be  grown  successfully, 
the  old-fashioned  Norway  spruce,  if  free  from 
the  spruce  louse  (Chermes  abietis),  has  always 
been  a  very  attractive  tree.  During  the  winter 


i88  Wild  Bird  Guests 

it  is  visited  by  grosbeaks,  crossbills,  finches  of 
various  sorts,  nuthatches,  chickadees,  etc.,  and 
in  the  spring  it  is  the  favorite  hunting  ground  of 
many  of  our  migrants;  while  in  the  summer  it 
offers  tempting  nesting  sites  to  numerous  resi- 
dents. The  Douglas  spruce  of  the  West  is 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  finest  of  our  introduced 
species.  It  seems  perfectly  hardy  in  many 
places  where  our  native  spruces  do  not  flourish, 
and  should  be  used  in  the  future  much  more  than 
it  has  been  in  the  past. 

"Of  the  hard  pines  the  Norway  is  by  far  the  best 
tree,  and  should  be  planted  much  oftener  than 
it  is.  The  white  pine  and  the  hemlock  are  per- 
haps the  finest  of  our  evergreens  and  too  well 
known  to  need  further  description.  The  white 
pine  is  a  particularly  rapid  grower,  and  both 
that  and  the  hemlock  flourish  throughout  prac- 
tically the  entire  region,  and  should  be  planted 
whenever  possible. 

"The  Japanese  yew,  although  slow  of  growth, 
is  one  of  the  hardiest  of  the  introduced  species, 
and  the  mature  plants,  with  their  striking  pink 
berries,  make  a  wonderful  addition  to  our  gardens 
and  evergreen  plantations. 

"The  writer  also  believes  in  the  planting  of 
rhododendrons,  either  R.  maximum  or  R.  cataw- 
biense,  and  laurel,  Kalmia  latifolia,  when  they 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          189 

can  be  made  to  grow.  They  are  perfectly  hardy 
in  many  places  where  they  are  not  supposed  to 
flourish,  and  if  properly  planted,  really  do  not 
require  the  care  that  many  suppose.  The 
writer  does  not  know  that  their  seeds  are  eaten 
by  birds;  but  when  planted  in  masses,  in  ap- 
propriate places  in  gardens  or  about  the  borders 
of  woods,  they  are  very  beautiful  all  the  year 
round,  particularly  when  in  bloom;  and  afford 
a  cover  much  resorted  to  by  birds,  both  winter 
and  summer. 

"On  suburban  places  and  in  the  country,  the 
use  of  evergreens,  large  plantations  wherever 
possible,  is  of  prime  importance  as  a  source  of 
perpetual  food  supply,  and  as  a  protection  from 
the  elements,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the  wel- 
come nesting  sites  they  offer.  From  an  artistic 
standpoint  also  the  use  of  evergreens  is  to  be 
recommended.  They  warm  up  the  landscape, 
and  in  these  days  when  so  many  of  us  live  in  the 
country  throughout  the  year,  it  behooves  us  to 
make  our  country  places  as  attractive  in  winter 
as  in  summer. 

"  I  am  indebted  to  Messrs.  William  Brewster 
and  Walter  Deane  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
and  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Faxon  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
of  Jamaica  Plain,  Massachusetts,  for  their  many 
helpful  suggestions  in  making  up  this  list;  and 


Wild  Bird  Guests 


my  thanks  are  particularly  due  to  Mr.  Alfred 
Rehder  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  to  whose 
thorough  knowledge  and  painstaking  care  I  am 
indebted  for  the  list  of  fruiting  seasons.  I  am 
also  indebted  to  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  for  information  contained  in  the 
Bulletin  entitled,  How  to  Attract  Birds  in  North- 
eastern United  States,  by  W.  L.  McAtee." 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  is  a  long  list  of 
herbaceous  plants  which  are  attractive  to  birds, 
but  a  few  of  the  more  important  ones  will  suffice. 
In  the  open  field  of  the  Bird  Sanctuary  at  Meri- 
den,  we  plant  Japanese  millet,  hemp,  wheat,  and 
sunflowers.  Buckwheat  is  excellent,  especially 
if  there  are  wild  doves  in  the  vicinity.  The 
hemp,  millet,  and  sunflowers  we  leave  standing, 
and  the  birds  take  the  seed  at  will  during  the 
fall  and  winter.  The  wheat  we  cut,  bind  in 
sheaves,  and  tie,  ears  down,  to  the  trunks  of  trees 
in  the  woodland,  that  grouse  and  other  birds  may 
find  plenty  of  available  food  just  above  the  snow. 

In  many  of  the  village  gardens  are  planted 
Japanese  millet  and  sunflowers,  and  Mr.  Ken- 
nard  recommends  that  nightshade  and  poke- 
berry  be  planted  along  the  stone  walls. 

Ruby-throated  humming-birds  are  such  uni- 
versal favorites  that  many  of  us  like  to  do  a 
little  planting  especially  for  them.  They  are 


cJ/ 


c////vY7/  J 


Hospitality  the  Year  'Round          191 

particularly  fond  of  tall  larkspur,  salvia,  col- 
umbine, bee-balm,  gladiolus,  and  nasturtium. 
Then  we  often  make  for  them  artificial  flowers 
of  bright-colored  cloth  or  paper,  hiding  in  the 
heart  of  each  a  tiny  bottle  filled  with  honey  and 
water  or  sugar  and  water.  It  is  said  that  they 
will  take  the  sweet  stuff  just  as  quickly  if  the 
bottle  is  not  surrounded  by  a  flower,  but  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  in  the  first  instance,  at 
least,  the  color  and  form  of  the  flower  will  help 
them  to  find  the  bottle. 

Where  there  is  a  possibility  of  attracting  wild 
ducks,  the  planting  of  wild  rice,  wild  celery, 
and  pond  weeds  is  recommended.  For  fuller 
information  concerning  the  respective  values  of 
these  foods,  the  best  methods  of  planting  them, 
and  so  forth,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Circular 
8 1,  issued  by  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  entitled,  Three  Important  Wild 
Duck  Foods,  by  W.  L.  McAtee.  Further  advice 
concerning  the  management  of  waterfowl  and 
game  birds  may  be  had  by  application  to  the 
American  Game  Protective  and  Propagation 
Association,  Woolworth  Building,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  BIRD  LOVER  AS  A  LANDLORD 

I  DOUBT  if  it  ever  occurs  to  the  average  person 
that  birds  are  actually  in  need  of  nesting  sites. 
Of  course  there  are  thousands  of  people  who 
believe  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  encourage  blue- 
birds and  tree  swallows  and  wrens  by  putting  up 
nesting  boxes  in  the  gardens  and  orchards,  but 
most  of  them  do  it  chiefly  because  it  is  interesting 
and  delightful  to  have  the  birds  about.  A  few 
go  as  far  as  to  plant  shrubbery  in  the  hope  that 
catbirds  and  songsparrows  and  a  few  others  will 
make  their  homes  in  it.  But  they  rarely  do  this 
because  they  think  the  birds  need  it.  As  they 
look  out  over  the  country  side  and  see  all  the 
trees  and  bushes,  it  seems  as  if  the  birds  had 
far  more  nesting  sites  than  they  could  possibly 
use  and  the  fact  that  so  many  of  these  trees  and 
shrubs  are  not  used  by  the  birds,  seems  to  con- 
firm the  opinion.  The  chances  are,  however,  that 
many  of  these  apparently  good  nesting  sites  are 

unused  for  the  very  simple  reason  that  they  are 

192 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  193 

not  what  the  birds  require,  and  that  they  would 
not  even  appear  to  be  suitable  if  we  knew  a  little 
more  about  the  real  tastes  and  preferences  of 
birds.  Perhaps  no  other  man  has  given  so  much 
good  thought  to  this  subject  as  Baron  Hans  von 
Berlepsch,  whose  estate,  "Seebach"  near  Essen, 
Germany,  has  become  world-famous  as  a  para- 
dise for  birds.  As  a  result  of  the  study  he  has 
given  to  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  his  feathered 
guests  in  the  matter  of  nesting  sites,  he  has  a 
thousand  birds  nesting  on  the  twelve  or  thirteen 
acres  immediately  surrounding  his  castle,  every 
year,  and  thousands  more  in  the  woods  beyond. 
And  it  has  paid  him  to  study  the  comfort  of  his 
guests,  for  they  have  become  a  power  for  good. 
When  an  insect  plague  swept  over  that  section 
of  the  country  some  years  ago,  "Seebach"  was 
the  one  green  spot  left  on  the  face  of  the  land- 
scape ;  it  stood  out  like  an  oasis  in  a  desert.  And 
all  because  a  thousand  birds,  with  perhaps  two 
thousand  hungry  babies  to  feed,  showed  that 
insect  destroyers  of  vegetation  can  be  made  to 
serve  a  very  useful  purpose. 

The  birds  which  suffer  most  perhaps  from  lack 
of  nesting  sites  are  those  which  naturally  nest 
in  holes  in  trees.  We  have  brought  about  whole- 
sale destruction  of  our  forests,  and  even  in  our 
gardens,  orchards,  and  farms  we  have  made 
13 


194 


Wild  Bird  Guests 


1 


r 


T 


II 


sure  to  remove  the  dead  trees  and  stumps,  which 
are  the  very  ones  usually  selected  by  birds  which 
nest  in  cavities.  In  short  we  have  driven  these 
birds  farther  and  farther  away  from  our  homes 
and  back  into  the  wilderness,  and  if  we  wish 
them  to  return  to  their  former  haunts,  we  must 
substitute  for  the  dead  trees  which  they  formerly 
occupied,  suitable  nest  boxes  of  some  kind. 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  195 

Some  birds,  like  house  wrens,  tree  swallows, 
bluebirds,  and  starlings  are  so  eager  for  new 
nesting  sites,  and  so  simple  in  their  requirements, 
that  they  will  accept  almost  any  nest  box  offered 
to  them — a  common  starch  box,  a  flower  pot, 
even  an  old  tomato  can  with  a  hole  cut  in  the 
end.  But  there  is  seldom  any  need  to  use  such 
crude  devices  as  these,  since  anyone  who  has 
access  to  a  few  boards,  old  or  new,  a  saw,  a 
hammer,  and  some  nails,  can  for  a  few  cents 
apiece  make  neat  bird  homes  from  such  plans 
as  are  given  here,  or  as  may  be  found  in  Farmers9 
Bulletin  609,  which  may  be  obtained  from  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  that  young 
people  especially,  be  encouraged  to  make  houses 
of  this  kind.  It  gives  them  an  opportunity  to 
do  active  work  for  the  birds;  work  of  which 
they  will  be  likely  to  see  the  result,  and  thus  be 
encouraged  to  continue.  But  they  should  study 
the  requirements  of  the  birds  and  not  be  led  into 
making  houses  which  are  simply  odd  or  pretty. 
There  is  no  objection  to  having  a  pretty  bird- 
house  if  the  essential  features — the  dimensions 
of  the  room,  the  diameter  of  the  entrance,  etc., 
are  correct.  There  is  no  use  in  making  houses 
with  more  than  one  room,  except  for  purple 


196  Wild  Bird  Guests 

martins,  unless,  of  course,  you  wish  to  encourage 
starlings  or  European  sparrows.  The  two-room 
houses  for  bluebirds,  wrens,  etc.,  which  we  see 
on  the  market  are  never  really  occupied  by  two 
families  at  the  same  time. 

Sometimes  we  see  houses  made  with  a  good 
deal  of  glass — in  the  form  of  windows  perhaps ; 
I  do  not  remember  having  seen  any  house  of  this 
kind  occupied  by  birds.  And  it  is  inadvisable 
to  have  more  than  one  entrance  to  a  room 
or  to  have  rooms  in  the  same  house  connected 
one  with  another.  The  extra  doorways  tend 
to  make  the  house  draughty.  If  in  any  case 
ventilation  seems  really  necessary,  holes  should 
be  made  above  the  entrance. 

But  there  are  comparatively  few  of  our  birds 
which  take  kindly  to  bird  houses  made  on  any 
of  these  lines ;  most  of  the  others  refuse  to  occupy 
any  ordinary  hand-made  nest  box.  Von  Ber- 
lepsch  discovered  this,  and  after  years  of  expe- 
riment decided  that  the  only  way  to  induce  these 
more  fastidious  birds  to  become  his  tenants,  was 
to  give  them  nesting  boxes  practically  like  those 
which  woodpeckers,  tits,  and  others  make  for 
themselves  by  burrowing  into  the  trunks  and 
branches  of  trees.  So  he  invented  a  machine 
which  would  hollow  out  a  log  in  such  a  way  that 
the  cavity  was  an  exact  facsimile  of  a  wood- 


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198  Wild  Bird  Guests 

pecker's  burrow  or  a  titmouse's  burrow, — not 
a  straight  bore,  but  flask-shaped  with  bulging 
sides  and  pointed  at  the  bottom.  He  made  a 
number  of  such  boxes,  in  several  different  sizes 
to  accommodate  birds  both  large  and  small.  For 
a  little  while  the  birds  showed  no  marked  prefer- 
ence for  these  boxes,  but  by  and  by  he  found 
that  he  got  most  interesting  results.  Birds 
which  had  never  come  to  any  of  his  other  nest 
boxes  came  to  these,  and  the  birds  which  had 
always  come  to  the  other  kinds  liked  the  new 
ones  at  least  as  well.  He  once  put  up  two 
thousand  of  these  nest  boxes,  and  seventeen 
hundred  were  occupied  the  first  year.  The  fol- 
lowing year  they  were  all  occupied  and  he  knew 
that  his  experiment  was  an  unqualified  success. 
The  German  Government  was  so  much  im- 
pressed with  the  result  of  this  and  other  experi- 
ments of  the  Baron's  that  it  has  established  other 
bird  sanctuaries  in  other  parts  of  Germany. 
The  Grand  Duchy  of  Hess,  not  long  ago,  put  up 
40,000  of  those  nest  boxes  in  the  forests  to  pro- 
tect the  timber.  And  in  many  villages  and 
towns,  people  who  have  no  special  love  for  birds, 
put  up  these  nest  boxes,  realizing  that  it  pays 
to  encourage  the  birds  which  occupy  them. 

Some   years   ago   the   writer   imported   from 
Germany  a  hundred  and  fifty  Berlepsch  nest 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  199 

boxes,  and  they  were  a  great  success.  Later, 
at  the  request  of  Mr.  William  Dutcher,  President 
of  the  National  Association  of  Audubon  Societies, 
he  undertook  to  direct  the  manufacture  of  Ber- 
lepsch  nest  boxes  in  this  country,  and  slightly 
modified  to  meet  the  special  requirements  of 
American  birds,  they  are  now  made  by  the 
Audubon  Bird  House  Company  in  Meriden, 
New  Hampshire.  Among  American  birds  which 
the  writer  knows  to  have  used  these  boxes,  are: 
sparrow  hawk,  screech  owl,  hairy  woodpecker, 
downy  woodpecker,  red-headed  woodpecker, 
flicker,  great-crested  flycatcher,  starling,  tree 
swallow,  house  wren,  white-breasted  nuthatch, 
red-breasted  nuthatch,  chickadee,  bluebird. 

Some  of  these  birds,  hairy  and  downy  wood- 
pecker, and  red-breasted  nuthatch,  for  instance, 
have  never  been  known  to  enter  any  other 
kind  of  nesting  box;  and  others,  the  sparrow 
hawk  and  red-headed  woodpecker,  for  examples, 
have  rarely  been  known  to  do  so.  In  fact  less 
than  one-half  the  birds  mentioned  in  the  above 
list  regularly  nest  in  carpenter-made  nest  boxes 
of  any  kind.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  Berlepsch  nest  boxes  are  only 
just  beginning  to  be  known  in  this  country, 
they  already  more  than  hold  their  own  against 
all  the  other  kinds  put  together.  It  is  the 


200  Wild  Bird  Guests 

writer's  belief  that  if  Berlepsch  nest  boxes  are 
made  available  for  American  birds  they  will 
eventually  be  occupied  by  practically  all  species 
which  naturally  nest  in  holes  in  trees.  As  von 
Berlepsch  himself  has  proved  by  repeated  ex- 
periment, when  properly  made  these  nest  boxes 
are  the  best  in  the  world.  But  he  warns  bird 
lovers  to  beware  of  unscrupulous  dealers,  who, 
ignorant  of  the  real  requirements  of  birds,  make 
boxes  which  on  the  outside  only,  resemble  the 
properly-made  ones.  These  fail  to  attract  the 
birds,  of  course,  and  the  result  is  disappointment 
and  discouragement  to  the  bird  lover. 

A  very  common  cause  of  failure  with  nest 
boxes  is  lack  of  knowledge  of  when,  how,  and 
where  to  hang  them.  The  following  rules  are 
intended  to  enable  the  reader  to  avoid  failure 
from  this  cause.  They  were  written  with  special 
reference  to  Berlepsch  nest  boxes,  but  apply 
equally  well  to  any  other  type  of  nest  box  with 
which  it  is  hoped  to  attract  American  birds. 

Time  of  Year 

Nest  boxes  may  be  put  up  at  any  time  of  the 
year,  and  the  sooner  they  are  put  up  the  better. 
Of  course,  if  they  are  put  up  so  late  in  the  spring 
that  the  birds  have  already  selected  other  sites 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  201 

for  their  nests,  one  cannot  expect  great  success 
that  season;  but  some  of  the  birds  which,  like 
the  bluebird,  rear  two  broods,  may  use  the 
boxes  for  the  second  brood,  and  in  any  case  the 
birds  will  become  accustomed  to  the  presence  of 
the  boxes  and  will  be  more  likely  to  make  use  of 
them  next  year.  To  obtain  the  very  best  re- 
sults in  the  spring,  the  boxes  should  be  in  place 
the  autumn  before.  There  are  several  reasons 
for  this.  In  the  first  place,  many  of  the  birds 
which  nest  in  holes,  use  holes  to  sleep  in  during 
the  winter,  and  birds  which  become  used  to 
sleeping  in  the  nest  boxes  will  be  very  apt  to  use 
similar  boxes  as  nesting  sites  in  the  following 
spring.  In  the  second  place,  if  they  are  hung 
before  the  leaves  fall,  one  can  see  exactly  what 
he  is  doing  and  avoid  hanging  the  boxes  in  places 
which  are  too  shady,  whereas  if  the  work  is  left 
until  spring,  they  may  be  hung  in  places  which 
seem  open  enough  while  the  trees  are  bare  but 
which  will  have  too  much  shade  when  the  leaves 
come  out  again.  Then,  if  boxes  are  hung  in  the 
fall,  they  are  sure  to  be  out  early  enough  in  the 
spring.  Otherwise  the  work  is  apt  to  be  left 
until  the  birds  begin  to  come  back,  which  is  too 
late  for  the  very  best  results.  Some  birds  seem 
to  select  their  nesting  holes  very  early,  though 
they  may  not  begin  to  build  until  later. 


202  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Condition  of  Nest  Boxes 

The  statement  often  repeated,  that  birds 
prefer  boxes  whose  appearance  of  newness  has 
disappeared,  may  be  true  of  the  shyer  species. 
From  my  own  experience  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  if  bluebirds  and  tree  swallows  have  any 
preference  in  this  matter,  it  is  for  a  clean  new- 
looking  box.  I  have  repeatedly  seen  these  birds 
enter  and  examine  new  boxes  within  ten  min- 
utes after  they  were  put  up,  and  then  nest  in 
them  afterwards.  I  very  much  doubt,  however, 
whether  the  age  of  the  house  has  much  to  do  with 
its  chances  of  being  occupied  by  such  tenants, 
for  I  have  known  the  same  box  to  be  used  many 
years  in  succession  when  newer  boxes  were  within 
sight. 

General  Situation 

It  should  be  continually  borne  in  mind  that 
nest  boxes  are  for  the  accommodation  of  birds 
that  naturally  nest  in  holes  in  trees.  Now,  the 
trunks  or  branches  in  which  such  holes  are 
situated,  are  usually  dead  or  decayed  and  not,  as 
a  rule,  heavily  shaded.  Therefore,  to  place  a 
box  in  a  perpetually  shaded  place  like  the  heart 
of  a  leafy  tree,  would  be  to  place  it  where  birds 
would  be  unlikely  to  use  it.  As  a  rule  it  should 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  203 

be  hung  on  a  well-exposed  trunk  or  branch,  and 
though  a  little  shade  will  do  no  harm  and  is 
even  desirable,  the  box  should  get  plenty  of  air 
and  sunlight. 

Position 

If  we  examine  the  nests  which  birds  make  for 
themselves  in  the  trunks  and  branches  of  trees, 
we  shall  find  that  sometimes  these  trunks  and 
branches  are  perpendicular,  and  that  sometimes 
they  are  leaning.  And  when  they  are  leaning, 
we  shall  find  that  the  entrance  holes  leading  to 
the  nests  are  usually  on  the  under  side.  We  can 
readily  see  good  reasons  for  this.  If  they  were 
on  the  upper  side  the  rain  water  would  run  in, 
and  moreover  it  would  be  less  convenient  for  the 
birds  to  go  in  and  out  over  an  overhanging  sur- 
face. So,  as  our  object  is  to  give  the  birds  a 
home  as  nearly  like  a  natural  one  as  possible,  we 
must  hang  our  boxes  either  on  upright  trunks 
or  branches,  or  on  the  under  sides  of  leaning  ones. 
They  may  also  be  erected  on  fence  posts,  and 
where  the  birds  have  become  tame  and  fearless, 
on  the  sides  of  houses  and  barns.  Of  the  occu- 
pied nest  boxes  on  the  writer's  farm  within  the 
last  year  or  two,  some  were  on  the  house  itself, 
others  on  the  barn,  on  gate  and  fence  posts,  in 


204  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  trees  of  the  garden  and  orchard,  and  in  the 
woodland  nearby.- 

Preparations  for  Hanging 

If  your  boxes  are  of  the  Berlepsch  type,  the 
first  thing  to  do  is  to  drop  into  the  bottom  of 
each  a  small  quantity  of  sawdust  and  dry  earth 
mixed  together,  about  half  and  half.  This  is 
to  take  the  place  of  the  peckings  of  decayed  wood 
which  woodpeckers  always  leave  in  the  bottom 
of  the  cavities  they  make.  Such  birds  do  not  as 
a  rule  carry  in  nesting  material,  and  these  peck- 
ings  take  the  place  of  it.  The  quantity  of  dry 
earth  and  sawdust  mixture  differs  with  the  size 
of  the  nest  box.  The  following  quantities  are 
recommended  by  Baron  von  Berlepsch  himself: 

For  sizes  Nos.  i  and  2,  one  heaping  tablespoonful. 
For  size  No.  3,  two  heaping  tablespoonfuls. 
For  sizes  Nos.  4  and  5,  ten  heaping  tablespoonfuls. 

This  mixture  may  be  dropped  through  the 
entrance  hole;  it  is  not  necessary  to  raise  the 
lid.  Any  nest  box  intended  for  wood  ducks 
should  be  left  three-quarters  full  of  dry  leaves. 
This  may  be  more  leaves  than  necessary  but  the 
ducks  will  throw  out  what  they  do  not  need. 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  205 

Other  types  of  nest  boxes  are  rarely  occupied 
by  woodpeckers  other  than  flickers,  but  a  little 
sawdust  will  do  no  harm  in  any  nest  box,  and 
in  case  of  driving  rain  may  help  the  drainage. 
An  inch  or  two  is  enough  for  bluebird  or  tree 
swallow  boxes,  but  the  deep  boxes  intended  for 
flickers  should  be  half  filled,  at  least.  If  there 
is  more  than  the  flickers  care  for,  they  will 
quickly  throw  it  out. 

You  are  now  ready  to  hang  up  the  nest  boxes 
and  in  most  instances  you  will  need  a  ladder  for 
this.  Where  a  number  of  boxes  are  to  be  put  up, 
a  wheelbarrow  will  be  found  a  great  convenience. 
Of  course  the  work  will  progress  much  more 
rapidly  if  two  persons  are  engaged — one  to 
mount  the  ladder — the  other  to  hand  him  the 
nest  boxes  and  tell  him  when  they  hang  true. 

The  Best  Places  to  Hang  Nest  Boxes 

Other  things  being  equal  the  greatest  success 
with  nest  boxes  will  be  had  by  those  who  give 
heed  to  the  preferences  which  different  kinds  of 
birds  show  in  selecting  sites  for  their  homes.  It 
would  hardly  be  possible  to  give  rules  so  com- 
plete as  to  cover  all  the  preferences  shown  by 
birds  likely  to  occupy  nest  boxes,  but  the  follow- 
ing suggestions  will  be  found  useful  by  those  who 


206  Wild  Bird  Guests 

have  not  had  a  wide  experience  in  the  field.  And 
among  these  suggestions  I  will  give  what  seem 
to  be  the  best  heights  at  which  to  hang  nest 
boxes  for  different  birds.  I  shall  try  to  avoid 
extremes  for  good  reasons.  For  instance,  I 
have  found  flickers  nesting  within  three  feet  of 
the  ground;  that  is  too  low  for  safety.  I  have 
found  them  nesting  forty  or  fifty  feet  above  the 
ground;  that  is  too  high  for  convenience  in 
hanging  bird  boxes.  I  suggest  from  eight  to 
twenty-five  feet;  eight  is  usually  safe  and  even 
twenty-five  feet  is  usually  convenient. 

Bluebirds,  as  we  all  know,  are  usually  found 
nesting  in  open  apple  orchards,  along  fence  posts, 
and  around  the  houses  and  farm  buildings. 
Evidently  then  the  best  places  to  put  up  nest 
boxes  for  them  are  on  the  apple  trees,  fence  posts, 
shade  trees,  arbors,  pergolas,  houses,  and  barns, 
Anywhere  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  will  be 
found  to  be  a  good  height. 

Chickadees  are  fond  of  the  open  woods,  es- 
pecially rather  swampy  woods,  and  in  such  places 
usually  nest  rather  close  to  the  ground.  I  once 
found  a  chickadee's  nest,  the  entrance  to  which 
was  only  one  foot  up  the  side  of  a  poplar  stump. 
From  four  to  eight  feet  up  would  be  all  right  for 
open  woodland.  But  chickadees  are  also  fond 
of  orchards  and  here  they  usually  nest  somewhat 


//.*. 


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207 


208  Wild  Bird  Guests 

higher.  For  chickadee  boxes  to  be  hung  on 
apple  trees  and  the  sides  of  quiet  buildings,  I 
would  suggest  eight  to  twelve  feet. 

Red-breasted  nuthatches  usually  nest  in  the 
open  woods  and  seem  partial  to  the  borders  of 
clearings.  Nest  boxes  hung  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  feet  above  the  ground  are  apt  to 
suit  their  ideas  as  to  proper  height.  A  pair 
of  these  birds  at  Dover,  Mass.,  nested  in  a 
Berlepsch  nest  box  only  seven  feet  from  the 
ground. 

White-breasted  nuthatches  sometimes  like  the 
open  woods  but  at  other  times  seem  to  prefer 
to  nest  in  orchards  or  quiet  gardens.  For  these 
birds  nest  boxes  hung  from  eight  to  fifteen  feet 
above  the  ground  will  be  high  enough. 

The  little  house  wrens  will  build  almost  any- 
where, but  seem  to  have  a  preference  for  quiet 
gardens  and  orchards.  Nest  boxes  intended  for 
them  may  be  hung  on  trees,  arbors,  pergolas, 
porches,  or  the  sides  of  buildings,  and  need  not 
be  hung  more  than  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  high. 

Tree  swallows  are  very  easy  to  please  and 
properly  made  nest  boxes  hung  on  the  exposed 
trunks  of  shade  trees,  on  tall  stumps,  on  buildings 
or  arbors,  and  eight  to  fifteen  feet  above  the 
ground  will  be  sure  to  please  them.  Nest 
boxes  intended  for  these  birds  may  also  be 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  209 

fastened  to  special  posts  and  placed  around 
open  fields. 

Purple  martins  seem  to  prefer  to  nest  in  many- 
roomed  houses  rather  than  in  nest  boxes  which 
accommodate  only  one  family.  Such  houses 
should  be  erected  either  on  special  poles,  on 
telegraph  or  telephone  poles,  the  trunks  of  trees, 
or  on  the  tops  of  buildings.  Martins  like  plenty 
of  open  space  on  at  least  one  side,  and  they  are 
especially  fond  of  the  banks  of  rivers  whence  they 
can  swing  out  over  the  water.  From  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  feet  is  plenty  high  enough  for  martin 
houses,  though  they  are  often  placed  much 
higher. 

Great-crested  flycatchers  usually  seek  their 
nesting  sites  in  open  woods  or  orchards. 
Anywhere  from  six  to  fifteen  feet  will  be  found 
a  good  height  for  the  nest  boxes. 

Flickers  are  fond  of  nesting  in  old  orchards 
where  some  of  the  trees  are  dead  or  dying,  but 
they  often  nest  in  trees  standing  in  the  open,  or 
in  posts  or  even  buildings  at  some  distance  from 
human  habitation.  As  I  have  said,  good  heights 
for  their  nesting  boxes  may  be  found  anywhere 
from  eight  to  twenty-five  feet  above  the  ground. 

Red-headed  woodpeckers  like  open  woods  but 
seem  to  be  quite  willing  to  accept  hospitality 
offered  them  in  quiet  gardens  and  orchards. 


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Plans  for  a  Martin  house — Elevations 

210 


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Plans  for  a  Martin  house — Continued 
See  also  design  on  page  309 

211 


212  Wild  Bird  Guests 

From  twelve  to  twenty  feet  will  suit  them  as  to 
height. 

Pileated  woodpeckers,  so  far  as  I  know,  have 
never  occupied  artificial  nesting  boxes,  but 
perhaps  this  is  simply  because  no  one  has  ever 
hung  properly-made  ones  in  suitable  places. 
These  woodpeckers  are  birds  which  usually 
prefer  old  forests,  and  it  is  here  that  nest  boxes 
intended  for  them  should  be  placed.  Judging 
from  their  natural  nesting  sites,  anywhere  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  would  be  a  good  height. 

Yellow-bellied  sapsuckers  will  nest  in  open 
woodland  or  in  shade  trees  in  gardens  or  along 
country  roads  and  village  streets.  From  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet  would  be  a  good  height  for  nest 
boxes  intended  for  their  use.  As  sapsuckers 
are  known  to  be  destroyers  of  certain  kinds  of 
trees,  especially  of  birches,  which  they  girdle 
with  holes  in  order  to  get  the  sap,  some  people 
may  not  wish  to  encourage  them.  But  they 
should  not  be  confused  with  other  woodpeckers, 
most  of  which  are  very  useful  birds. 

Saw  whet  or  Acadian  owls  are  often  found 
nesting  in  old  woodpeckers'  holes  or  deserted 
squirrels'  nests.  Nest  boxes  intended  for  them 
may  be  hung  in  woodland  or  on  the  sides  of 
isolated  buildings,  and  anywhere  from  ten  to 
twenty  feet  would  be  a  good  height. 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  213 

Sparrow  hawks  are  usually  birds  of  the  open 
country  and  often  nest  in  isolated  trees.  Nest 
boxes  hung  on  such  trees  within  the  birds'  breed- 
ing range,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet 
above  the  ground  are  apt  to  be  occupied.  Care 
should  be  taken  that  these  beautiful  and  useful 
little  hawks  are  not  mistaken  for  sharp-shinned 
hawks,  and  killed. 

Wood  ducks  and  mallards  both  take  kindly 
to  artificial  nesting  sites,  and  golden  eyes  and 
American  mergansers  probably  will  do  so  eventu- 
ally. Nesting  boxes  for  wood  ducks  should  be 
placed  on  trees  within  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
of  some  pond  or  stream,  or  if  the  ducks  are  tame, 
the  boxes  may  be  fastened  a  foot  or  so  above  the 
surface  of  the  water  upon  posts  driven  into  the 
mud  at  the  bottom.  In  this  case  it  is  well  to 
have  a  sort  of  gang-plank,  made  of  a  board  with 
cleats  nailed  across  it,  leading  from  the  entrance 
hole  to  a  little  float  resting  on  the  water.  The 
ducks  will  climb  out  on  the  float  and  by  means 
of  the  gang-plank  reach  the  entrance  to  the  nest 
box. 

Three-toed  woodpeckers  usually  inhabit  living 
evergreen  forests  and  nest  boxes  intended  to  at- 
tract them,  may  be  placed  from  ten  to  twenty- 
five  feet  from  the  ground.  These  birds  have  not 
yet  been  known  to  use  artificial  nesting  sites. 


214  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Downy  woodpeckers  are  birds  chiefly  of  the 
woods  and  orchards  and  should  be  attracted  by 
suitable  nest  boxes  hung  from  ten  to  twenty  feet 
high.  They  have  been  known  to  occupy  Ber- 
lepsch  nest  boxes  only. 

Hairy  woodpeckers  are  fond  of  quiet  wood- 
land, especially  swampy  woodland  or  woodland 
near  a  stream ;  sometimes  they  nest  quite  close 
to  houses.  Nest  boxes  hung  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  feet  above  the  ground  will  be  at 
the  proper  height  for  them.  They  have  been 
known  to  enter  Berlepsch  nest  boxes  only. 

Screech  owls  seem  to  have  little  fear  of  man, 
and  frequently  nest  in  the  orchards  or  in  shade 
trees  near  the  house  or  on  the  village  streets. 
They  will  often  occupy  nest  boxes  hung  on  trees 
or  the  sides  of  barns  from  eight  to  twenty-five 
feet  up. 

While  not  essential  in  all  cases,  it  is  best  to 
examine  all  nest  boxes  in  the  fall,  and  clean  out 
those  which  have  been  occupied  either  by  birds 
or  by  squirrels,  mice,  hornets,  or  moths.  Some 
birds  will  go  to  the  trouble  of  cleaning  out  a  nest 
box,  but  many  will  refuse  to  use  it  unless  it  has 
been  cleaned  for  them.  Last  spring  a  pair  of 
bluebirds  in  Meriden,  New  Hampshire,  refused 
to  build  in  a  nest  box  which  they  had  used  for 
years.  Finally  the  owner  of  the  box  examined 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  215 

it  and  found,  in  addition  to  the  old  nest,  an 
addled  egg  left  from  the  year  before,  which 
he  decided  was  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  He 
cleaned  out  the  box  and  the  bluebirds  began 
building  at  once.  On  the  other  hand  another 
pair  of  bluebirds  in  the  same  village  built  their 
nest  in  a  Berlepsch  box  over  the  nest  and  eggs  of 
a  pair  of  tree  swallows  who,  it  would  seem,  had 
a  better  right  to  it.  Ernest  Thompson  Seton 
adds  the  remark:  "As  a  practical  detail  I  have 
found  it  worth  while  to  have  each  nest  with  a 
hinge  door  which  would  admit  of  easy  inspection 
without  disturbing  the  inside  arrangements." 
The  author's  experience  coincides  with  this,  and 
all  nest  boxes  made  under  his  direction  are  fitted 
with  hinged  lids  and  simple  fastenings  to  facili- 
tate inspection,  and  cleaning  when  necessary. 

Shelves  for  Phcebes  and  Robins 

The  author  has  had  success  in  attracting 
phcebes  to  the  house  by  putting  up  shelves  for 
them  under  the  piazza  about  four  to  six  inches 
from  the  roof.  At  his  own  home  a  little  shelf 
made  of  a  bit  of  board  four  inches  square,  sup- 
ported by  a  brace,  has  been  occupied  by  a  pair 
of  phcebes  for  three  successive  years,  two  broods 
being  reared  each  year. 


216  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Robins  prefer  a  somewhat  wider  shelf,  perhaps 
six  inches,  fastened  a  little  farther  away  from  the 
roof,  to  allow  for  the  larger  size  of  the  birds 
when  they  stand  on  the  rim  of  the  nest  to  feed 
their  young.  Some  people  object  to  having  birds 
nest  in  this  way  because  they  soil  the  piazza, 
but  it  requires  so  very  little  work  to  keep  every- 
thing neat  and  clean,  that  it  is  hard  to  see  how 
anyone  can  forego  the  delight  of  observing  the 
home  life  of  their  little  guests,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  advantage  of  having  countless  troublesome 
insects  destroyed.  The  pair  of  phoebes  on  our 
piazza,  with  two  pairs  of  tree  swallows  which  nest 
in  boxes  in  the  garden,  and  a  pair  of  barn  swal- 
lows in  the  barn,  keep  our  house  practically  free 
from  flies  and  mosquitoes  all  summer  long. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  birds  which  will  nest 
neither  in  nest  boxes  nor  upon  shelves  are  pro- 
vided for  in  Mr.  Kennard's  splendid  list  of  trees 
and  shrubs  and  creepers  given  in  Chapter  VIII. 

Baron  Hans  von  Berlepsch  goes  a  step  farther 
and  plants  what  he  calls  shelter  woods,  the  trees 
and  shrubs  in  which  are  systematically  pruned 
in  such  a  way  that  the  new  shoots  form  whorls 
and  crotches  of  the  kinds  most  attractive  to 
birds  which  make  their  nests  in  such  places. 
But  this  is  an  art  in  itself,  and  those  who  would 
learn  it  I  must  refer  to  Martin  Hieseman's 


Bird  Lovers  as  Landlords  217 

How  to  Attract  and  Protect  Wild  Birds,  an  im- 
ported book  for  sale  by  the  National  Association 
of  Audubon  Societies,  1974  Broadway,  New 
York  City. 

Nesting  Material 

It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  birds  are 
influenced  more  or  less  in  their  choice  of  nesting 
sites  by  the  amount  of  suitable  nesting  material 
to  be  found  comparatively  close  at  hand.  If 
barn  swallows  are  to  nest  on  a  particular  barn, 
there  must  be  a  supply  of  suitable  mud  within 
easy  distance,  or  if  a  Baltimore  oriole  has  selected 
a  certain  pendant  branch  on  which  to  hang  his 
nest,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  within  a  rather 
short  radius  may  be  found  enough  strings  of 
some  kind  to  make  an  oriole's  nest.  And  the 
fact  that  birds  so  often  avail  themselves  of  the 
strings,  rags,  scraps  of  paper,  and  other  materials 
accidentally  dropped  near  our  homes,  suggests 
the  possibility  that  if  a  generous  supply  of  such 
nesting  material  were  made  available  during  the 
nesting  season,  more  birds  would  be  likely  to 
nest  on  the  premises.  A  great  variety  of  nesting 
material  is  used  by  our  common  birds,  and  there 
is  no  telling  to  what  extent  this  would  be  added 
to  if  new  materials  were  available.  Since  the 
coming  of  the  white  man  they  have  added  string 


218  Wild  Bird  Guests 

of  many  kinds,  woolen  yarn,  silk  thread,  horse 
hair,  sheep's  wool,  feathers  of  domestic  poultry, 
rags,  cotton  batting,  wood  shavings,  paper,  and 
probably  other  things.  Any  or  all  of  these  might 
be  offered  with  a  fair  chance  of  their  being  used. 
Small  dry  twigs,  and  hay  in  convenient  lengths, 
would  doubtless  be  accepted  by  certain  birds, 
and  by  a  study  of  the  nests  in  any  locality, 
probably  other  materials  could  be  added  to  the 
list. 

A  puddle  with  plenty  of  soft  wet  clay  or  sticky 
mud  of  some  kind,  or  a  tray  of  this  material,  in 
an  exposed  situation,  would  be  likely  to  be  visited 
by  barn  swallows  and  cliff  swallows. 

One  objection  to  offering  the  birds  such  mate- 
rials as  rags,  cotton  batting,  paper,  and  shavings, 
is  that  they  are  blown  about  by  the  wind  and 
make  a  garden  look  untidy.  Perhaps  this  objec- 
tion might  be  overcome  by  putting  the  materials 
in  net  bags  with  a  wide  mesh  or  in  shallow 
baskets  or  boxes  with  covers  of  netting  and 
painted  so  that  they  are  inconspicuous  when 
placed  on  trees  or  in  shrubbery. 


CHAPTER  X 

BIRD    BATHS   AND    DRINKING    POOLS 

IN  hot  weather,  especially  in  time  of  drought, 
there  is  nothing  more  attractive  to  birds  than 
water.  They  need  it  to  drink  and  to  bathe  in, 
and  when  the  natural  pools  and  streams  are 
dried  up,  they  will  come  from  far  and  near  to 
visit  a  properly  constructed  bird  bath.  At  the 
very  time  this  chapter  is  being  written  the 
weather  is  very  hot  and  dry  and  birds  are  coming 
to  the  artificial  baths  in  the  village,  not  one  at 
a  time,  but  by  scores.  Only  this  morning  they 
gathered  at  a  little  cement  bath  just  outside  my 
study  window,  and  gave  it  the  appearance  of  an 
avian  Manhattan  Beach.  I  saw  two  bluebirds, 
a  chewink,  a  white-throated  sparrow,  a  song 
sparrow,  a  junco,  a  chipping  sparrow,  and  a 
myrtle  warbler,  all  bathing  at  once,  and  at  least 
a  score  of  other  birds  were  hopping  about  in  the 
grass  or  perched  in  the  bushes  nearby,  awaiting 

their  turn.     There  were  similar  scenes  at  nearly 

219 


220  Wild  Bird  Guests 

all  the  bird  baths  in  Meriden.  One  example  will 
suffice.  In  the  Bird  Sanctuary  there  is  a  bath 
made  from  a  granite  boulder,  or  rather  half  a 
boulder,  for  it  was  split  in  two,  ages  ago,  proba- 
bly by  the  frost.  It  had  broken  in  such  a  way 
that  one-half  had  a  gently  sloping  concave  sur- 
face and  we  took  this  half,  and  turned  the 
concave  surface  uppermost  that  when  filled  with 
water  it  might  form  a  natural  pool  for  the  birds. 
As  I  approached  this  bath  one  evening  after 
sundown,  I  saw  the  whole  surface  of  the  water 
dancing  as  though  a  shoal  of  little  fish  were 
sporting  in  it,  and  spray  was  flying  in  every 
direction.  It  was  simply  a  flock  of  birds  taking 
their  evening  bath.  Perhaps  because  night  was 
coming  on  they  were  too  impatient  to  wait  their 
turn,  for  all  seemed  to  be  trying  to  get  in  at 
once,  and  most  of  them  were  successful.  Juncos 
seemed  to  be  most  numerous,  but  there  were 
several  bluebirds  and  myrtle  warblers  and  some 
sparrows  which  in  their  wet  plumage  and  in  the 
uncertain  light  I  could  not  identify.  A  little 
apart  a  phoebe  sat  on  a  twig  above  the  pool, 
watching  for  chances  to  dip  down  into  the  water 
for  an  instant,  after  which  she  would  return  to 
the  twig  to  preen  her  feathers. 

Birds  come  to  our  bird  baths  every  day  in 
summer  and  fall  in  an  almost  continuous  pro- 


Bird  Baths 


221 


cession,  but  usually  just  a  few  are  present  at  the 
same  moment.  They  come  in  large  flocks  only 
at  exceptional  times,  usually  following  severe 
drought. 

Bird  baths  may  be  as  simple  or  as  elaborate  as 
one  likes.  A  rough  earthenware  saucer  from  six 
inches  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter  and  with  half 
an  inch  of  fresh  water  in  it,  is  a  great  deal  better 
than  nothing  and  may  attract  some  of  the  most 


-a.. 


1 


SSEEr^TifT' 


222  Wild  Bird  Guests 

delightful  birds.  I  have  seen  robins,  catbirds, 
Baltimore  orioles,  rose-breasted  grosbeaks,  and 
many  others  bathe  in  an  earthenware  saucer. 
But  the  supplying  of  water  is  so  very  important 
that  most  of  us  will  wish  to  do  rather  more  than 
put  out  a  saucer.  Even  from  a  selfish  standpoint 
it  is  well  to  give  birds  all  the  water  they  want. 
If  we  do,  they  will  be  much  less  likely  to  destroy 
our  small  fruits,  which  they  sometimes  eat 
chiefly  for  the  fluid  they  contain. 

In  making  any  bird  bath  the  first  thing  to 
look  out  for  is  the  depth  of  the  water.  Few  of 
the  birds  which  will  come  to  bathe  will  use  water 
of  greater  depth  than  two  and  a  half  inches,  and 
even  for  grackles  and  blue  jays  five  inches  is 
about  the  limit.  But  most  birds  refuse  to  jump 
off  into  any  such  depth ;  if  we  had  a  pool  with  a 
uniform  depth  of  even  two  and  a  half  inches, 
birds  would  come  and  drink  but  few  if  any  would 
bathe.  So  we  must  arrange  for  shallow  places 
where  the  birds  can  enter  the  water;  they  will 
go  in  deeper  presently,  but  they  are  very  cautious. 
Half  an  inch  is  a  good  depth  for  the  shallows  and 
if  the  depth  grades  off  to  nothing  at  all,  so  much 
the  better.  A  bath  which  the  writer  invented 
some  time  ago  and  which  has  proved  very 
popular  with  the  birds,  is  made  on  the  principle 
of  a  flight  of  broad  steps,  each  one  of  which  is  two 


Bird  Baths  223 

feet  long  and  seven  inches  wide.  There  are  five 
of  these  steps,  each  one-half  inch  lower  than  the 
last.  So  that  when  the  water  is  half  an  inch 
deep  on  the  top  step,  it  is  two  and  a  half  inches 
deep  on  the  bottom  one.  The  birds  invariably 
enter  the  water  at  the  top  step.  Their  favorite 
steps  are  the  second  and  third;  they  seldom  go 
lower  than  that.  The  bottom  is  covered  with 
clean  sand  and  bright  pebbles  from  a  trout  brook, 
and  here  and  there  among  them  are  strewn 
beautifully-tinted  shells. 

Close  beside  it  is  a  wooden  tray  of  earth,  on 
which  are  scattered  every  morning,  bird-seed 
of  several  kinds,  bits  of  bread,  a  little  suet,  ripe 
raspberries,  and  a  piece  of  banana  perhaps,  as 
additional  attractions  for  the  feathered  guests. 
Among  the  smaller  visitors  are  the  chipping 
sparrows,  gentle,  modest  little  fellows,  who  come 
to  the  food  tray  quietly  as  mice,  crack  a  few 
seeds,  and  then  take  a  bath  on  the  top  step  where 
the  water  is  shallow.  Almost  burly,  in  compari- 
son, are  the  purple  finches,  which  come,  often  two 
or  three  at  a  time,  make  a  full  meal  in  the  food 
tray,  and  then  souse  themselves  thoroughly  in 
the  deeper  water,  regardless  of  theories  concern- 
ing the  dangers  of  bathing  too  soon  after  dinner. 

Perhaps  the  most  amusing  visitor  is  a  catbird, 
who  has  a  nest  in  the  lilac  bushes,  from  the  top 


224  Wild  Bird  Guests 

of  which,  in  the  early  morning,  he  sings  his 
wonderful  song  which  so  surprises  those  who 
know  him  by  his  cat-call  only.  He  comes  boldly 
to  the  food  tray,  hops  lightly  about,  jauntily 
flirting  his  long  tail,  swallows  a  ripe  raspberry, 
takes  a  bite  or  two  of  banana,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  inspect  the  bath  as  if  he  had  never  seen 
it  before.  He  cocks  his  head  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other,  hops  into  the  shallow  water, 
and  begins  to  peck  at  the  shells  and  pebbles  at 
the  bottom.  Perhaps  he  will  take  one  in  his  bill, 
and  hold  it  for  a  moment  before  dropping  it  back. 
Then  he  goes  out  into  deeper  water,  and  with 
wings  vibrating  as  though  operated  by  an  elec- 
tric current,  takes  a  thorough  bath  "all  over." 
When  he  comes  out,  he  is  a  sorry-looking  object, 
dripping  wet  and  with  tail-feathers  stuck  to- 
gether. But  apparently  he  cares  nothing  for 
appearances,  and  proceeds  with  his  toilet  forth- 
with. He  shakes  himself  vigorously,  flips  his 
tail  from  side  to  side  to  get  rid  of  the  bulk  of  the 
water,  and  then  it  is  surprising  how  soon,  with 
the  aid  of  his  deft  bill  and  a  warm  sun,  he  makes 
himself  into  a  clean  fluffy  catbird  again. 

Sometimes,  toward  evening,  a  bluebird  visits 
the  bath,  and,  after  washing  himself  in  a  very 
business-like  way,  flies  off  to  a  dead  tree  to 
preen  and  dry  his  feathers. 


Bird  Baths  225 

Occasionally  a  phcebe  comes,  but  apparently 
takes  a  bath  more  from  a  sense  of  duty  than  from 
any  love  of  bathing.  He  seems  to  dislike  cold 
water  about  as  much  as  does  the  average  small 
boy,  for  instead  of  getting  right  into  it  as  most 
birds  do,  he  flits  through  it,  barely  getting  his 
feet  wet.  Perhaps  this  habit  has  been  acquired 
by  repeatedly  darting  after  insects,  and  possibly 
is  common  to  all  flycatchers;  at  any  rate  I 
have  seen  a  kingbird  bathe  by  dashing  through 
the  water  of  a  stream  time  and  again,  re- 
turning after  each  dip  to  a  snag,  from  which 
he  made  a  fresh]  dive  after  stopping:  a  moment 
to  preen  his  feathers,  and  perhaps  to  catch  his 
breath. 

But  the  song  sparrows  are  perhaps  the  most 
numerous  visitors  to  this  bird  bath;  they  come 
earlier  and  stay  later  than  any  of  the  other  birds. 
They  act  as  if  they  owned  this  particular  sheet 
of  water,  three  feet  by  two,  and  if  any  other  bird 
ventures  too  near  while  a  song  sparrow  is  bath- 
ing the  former  is  promptly  driven  away.  These 
sparrows  seem  to  fairly  love  the  water,  and  not 
only  splash  in  it,  but  squat  right  down  in  it 
until  practically  nothing  but  their  heads  are 
sticking  out.  Sometimes  when  it  is  almost  dark, 
and  the  last  red  tinge  of  afterglow  is  reflected 
in  the  tiny  pool,  a  couple  of  dark  spots  on  the 

15 


226  Wild  Bird  Guests 

shining  surface  tell  just  where  two  little  song 
sparrows  are  cooling  off  for  the  night. 

We  have  been  altogether  too  busy  to  keep 
close  watch  on  this  bath  but  at  different  times 
we  have  observed  the  following  birds  using  it: 
Flicker,  phoebe,  Baltimore  oriole,  purple  finch, 
white-winged  crossbill,  American  goldfinch,  ves- 
per sparrow,  white-throated  sparrow,  chipping 
sparrow,  junco,  song  sparrow,  chewink,  cedar 
waxwing,  black-and-white  warbler,  Nashville 
warbler,  myrtle  warbler,  chestnut-sided  warbler, 
catbird,  brown  thrasher,  hermit  thrush,  robin, 
and  bluebird.  Probably  there  have  been  many 
more  which  we  have  not  observed.  The  arrange- 
ment of  steps,  while  interesting,  is  by  no  means 
necessary,  and  a  bath  of  the  same  size,  say  three 
feet  long,  two  feet  wide,  and  three  inches  deep, 
with  a  continuously  sloping  and  roughened 
bottom,  starting  at  one  end  half  an  inch  from 
the  top  and  ending  at  the  other  end  at  its  lowest 
point,  would  probably  answer  the  purpose  just 
as  well.  And  speaking  of  the  roughened  bottom, 
reminds  me  that  almost  if  not  quite  as  important 
as  the  depth  of  water  in  a  bird  bath,  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  footing  on  the  bottom.  This  should 
never  be  slippery,  for  birds  lose  confidence  when 
they  find  they  cannot  keep  their  feet.  A  layer 
of  course  sand  or  fine  pebbles  will  usually  give 


Bird  Baths  227 

the  desired  "footing"  in  a  bird  bath,  and  a  slip- 
pery pan  or  dish  can  be  rendered  safe  by  placing 
in  it  a  freshly-cut  sod,  having  about  half  an  inch 
of  the  grass  submerged.  This  makes  a  wet  spot 
such  as  many  of  the  small  birds  are  very  fond 
of. 

Concrete  is  very  useful  for  the  construction 
of  pools  for  the  comfort  of  birds ;  it  may  be  used 
alone  as  in  the  case  of  a  bird  bath  in  my  own 
garden,  or  in  connection  with  natural  rock  crop- 
ping out  above  the  earth,  as  seen  in  the  photo- 
graph of  Mr.  Kennard's  little  pool,  opposite. 
The  former  was  made  as  follows:  I  scooped  out 
in  the  lawn  an  elliptical  hollow,  four  feet  by 
three  feet  six  inches,  the  sides  sloping  down  in  all 
directions  toward  the  centre  where  the  depth  was 
four  or  five  inches.  I  now  took  some  Portland 
cement  and  some  course  sand  and  mixed  in  the 
proportion  of  one  of  cement  to  four  of  sand, 
adding  just  enough  water  to  give  it  the  consist- 
ency of  common  mortar.  Then,  with  my  hand, 
I  plastered  it  all  over  the  surface  of  the  hollow, 
putting  in  enough  to  make  the  depth  at  the 
center  about  two  and  a  half  inches.  I  was  care- 
ful not  to  make  the  sides  too  smooth,  though  the 
concrete  itself  gives  an  excellent  foothold  for  the 
birds.  We  have  no  running  water  in  this ;  about 
once  a  week  we  sweep  the  water  out  with  a  stiff 


228  Wild  Bird  Guests 

broom  and  put  two  pails  of  fresh  water  into  it. 
It  has  been  a  complete  success,  and  being  within 
ten  feet  of  the  house  we  have  had  great  pleasure 
in  watching  the  birds  from  the  windows  and 
from  the  piazzas.  We  have  seen  six  bluebirds — 
the  parents  and  four  young — bathing  in  it  at 
once,  and  at  other  times  there  have  been  whole 
flocks  of  song  sparrows,  white-throated  sparrows, 
and  juncos,  in  addition  to  the  many  birds  that 
come  in  smaller  numbers.  With  a  few  shrubs 
and  hardy  flowers  planted  about  it,  such  a  bath 
can  be  made  a  beautiful  little  feature  in  any 
garden.  And,  of  course,  there  is  no  reason  in  the 
world  why  it  should  not  be  made  much  larger 
if  one  has  plenty  of  room  and  the  time  to  make 
it. 

Dr.  Ernest  L.  Huse,  President  of  the  Meriden 
Bird  Club,  has  a  somewhat  similar  bath  in  his 
garden,  but  he  has  carried  the  idea  a  little  farther. 
In  the  center  he  has  sunk  a  tub,  and  from  the  rim 
which  is  perhaps  two  and  a  half  inches  below 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  concrete  slants 
outward  and  upward  in  all  directions,  making 
shallows  in  which  the  birds  will  drink  and  bathe. 
In  the  tub  pond  lillies  are  planted,  and  spread 
their  leaves  and  blossoms  over  the  surface. 
Round  about  shrubs  and  tall  grasses  are  planted 
and  here  and  there  among  them  one  catches  a 


Bird  Baths  229 

glimpse  of  a  little  food  tray,  filled  with  hemp 
and  millet  which  tends  to  keep  the  birds  about 
the  spot  even  when  the  bath  is  over. 

There  is  hardly  a  limit  to  what  may  be  done 
with  concrete  in  this  way,  especially  if  it  is  used 
in  connection  with  beautiful  stones,  pebbles,  sand, 
and  shells.  Small  pools  may  be  swept  out  often 
enough  to  prevent  mosquitoes  from  breeding; 
in  the  larger  ones  a  few  small  fish  will  quickly 
devour  the  larvae  of  these  insects. 

Of  course,  in  the  case  of  bird  baths  which  are 
not  raised  well  above  the  ground,  great  care 
must  be  taken  that  the  little  bathers  are  not 
pounced  upon  by  cats,  which  would  otherwise 
have  the  little  songsters  at  an  unusual  disadvant- 
age. The  birds  become  so  engrossed  with  the 
joy  of  the  bath  that  they  are  less  wary  than 
usual,  and  their  feathers  being  wet  they  fly 
slowly  and  heavily,  often  close  to  the  ground. 
If  we  cannot  be  sure  about  cats,  we  must  either 
have  our  bath  raised  well  above  the  ground  on 
some  object  which  a  cat  cannot  climb,  or  else 
we  must  be  content  with  a  bath  out  in  the  open, 
without  shrubs  or  grass  about  it,  for  behind  such 
things  a  cat  will  crouch. 

I  have  spoken  of  a  bird  bath  made  of  a  granite 
boulder;  we  have  two  of  this  kind  in  Meriden, 
New  Hampshire,  and  they  are  among  the  most 


230  Wild  Bird  Guests 

satisfactory  baths  we  have.  One  has  the  natural 
hollow  which  I  have  described. 

It  is  set  upon  a  well-made  stone  foundation, 
a  hole  has  been  drilled  down  through  to  admit  a 
lead  pipe  which  supplies  running  water,  and  a 
little  bronze  tablet  bolted  to  the  granite  shows 
that  the  bath  is  placed  there  in  memory  of  Dr. 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  and  gives  the  name  of  Miss 
Harriet  E.  Freeman  of  Boston  who  presented 
it  to  the  Bird  Club.  I  often  think  how  much 
more  appropriate  as  a  memorial  to  a  real  man 
or  woman,  is  a  beautiful  thing  like  this,  made 
by  Nature,  carved  by  her  mighty  forces,  and 
dedicated  to  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the 
loveliest  of  her  children,  than  a  shining,  ugly,  and 
utterly  useless  polished  shaft,  whose  sole  recom- 
mendation is  that  it  costs  from  a  hundred  to  a 
thousand  times  as  much.  In  the  case  of  the 
other  boulder  bird  bath,  which  is  on  the  campus 
of  the  local  academy,  a  hollow  was  chiseled  out 
by  a  mason  at  small  expense. 

When  we  decide  to  have  such  a  bath  our  plan 
is  to  appoint  a  committee,  each  member  of  which 
has  a  good  general  idea  of  the  kind  of  boulder 
required.  When  any  member  goes  for  a  walk, 
he  keeps  his  eyes  open  for  likely  boulders  and 
when  he  finds  one  which  he  thinks  will  do,  he 
takes  the  other  members  to  see  it.  If  it  is 


Bird  Baths  231 

satisfactory  as  to  size  and  form,  the  next  step 
is  to  approach  the  owner  of  the  land  on  which 
it  lies,  and  secure  his  permission  to  remove  it. 
He  is  usually  glad  to  have  it  removed,  and  if 
he  is  the  owner  of  oxen  or  heavy  work  horses 
he  appreciates  the  contract  to  haul  it  at  his 
convenience. 

The  lovely  bronze  fountain  executed  by  Mrs. 
Louis  Saint-Gaudens,  and  pictured  here,  is 
another  of  the  charming  features  of  the  Bird 
Sanctuary  at  Meriden,  and  makes  one  realize 
that  with  the  sculptor  as  an  assistant  there  is  no 
end  to  the  artistic  bird  baths  which  may  be 
designed.  This  particular  bath  was  made  in 
commemoration  of  the  first  presentation  of 
Percy  Mackaye's  bird  masque,  Sanctuary,  and 
was  presented  to  the  Meriden  Bird  Club  by  Helen 
Foster  Barnett  of  New  York  who  witnessed  the 
play.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  shallowness  of 
the  basin  at  the  top  that  my  remarks  about  the 
depth  of  the  water  apply  just  as  much  to  a 
formal  work  of  art  as  to  a  granite  boulder  or  an 
earthenware  saucer.  The  rule  about  surface  also 
applies,  and  the  sculptoress  purposely  left  the 
surface  of  the  inside  of  the  basin  slightly  rough 
that  the  feet  of  the  little  bathers  might  not  slip, 
Below  the  shallow  bowl  and  in  bas-relief  may  be 
seen  in  procession  the  principal  characters  who 


232  Wild  Bird  Guests 

took  part  in  the  masque.  Below  these  are  in- 
teresting inscriptions,  some  of  them  historical, 
others  consisting  of  quotations  from  the  masque 
itself.  Of  these  the  one  that  sends  the  reader 
away  filled  with  determination  to  do  something 
for  the  cause  of  bird  conservation  is  the  com- 
pact sworn  to  by  the  poet,  the  converted  plume- 
hunter,  and  the  naturalist: 

"  A  compact,  then,  we  three,  that  when  we  go 
Forth  from  these  gracious  trees 
Into  the  world,  we  go  as  witnesses 
Before  the  men  who  make  our  country's  laws, 
And  by  our  witness  show 
In  burning  words 

The  meaning  of  these  sylvan  mysteries: 
Freedom  and  sanctuary  for  the  birds!  " 


CHAPTER  XI 

SOME    OF  THE    PROBLEMS  WHICH   CONFRONT 
BEGINNERS 

THE  writer  does  not  begin  this  chapter  without 
realizing  the  magnitude  of  the  task  which  would 
confront  anyone  who  undertook  to  give  in  detail 
remedies  for  all  the  ills  which  birds  are  heir  to. 
Even  were  he  able  to  cope  with  such  a  task,  it 
would  be  impossible  in  a  book  of  anything  like 
this  size,  to  do  so.  But  he  knows  from  the  let- 
ters of  inquiry  which  he  receives,  that  there  are 
many  people  who  seek  just  a  few  opinions- 
just  a  few  suggestions  from  someone  who  has  had 
even  a  little  more  experience  than  they  have 
had,  and  whom  they  feel  will  be  working  along 
with  them  for  the  welfare  of  their  mutual  friends 
— the  birds.  It  is  principally  for  these  and 
such  as  these  that  this  chapter  is  written. 

Storms 

There  seems  to  be  little  we  can  do  to  prevent 
birds  from  being  killed  as  a  direct  result  of  storms. 

233 


234  Wild  Bird  Guests 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  planting  of  ever- 
greens as  shelter,  and  such  local  protection  is 
valuable  as  far  as  it  goes.  We  have  also  spoken 
of  the  feeding  of  birds  in  winter  and  after  late 
spring  storms. 

Floods  caused  by  heavy  rains  and  which  result 
in  the  destruction  of  nests  upon  the  ground  within 
the  flooded  area,  might,  it  would  seem,  be  pre- 
vented in  many  cases  by  a  simple  drain  which 
would  carry  off  the  surplus  water. 

Waterfalls 

Speaking  of  the  swans  which  went  over 
Niagara  Falls  in  1908,  Mr.  James  Savage,  in  a 
report  to  the  Buffalo  Society  of  Natural  Sciences, 
concludes:  "While  the  killing  of  the  wounded 
swans  at  the  ice  bridge  ...  in  a  certain  light 
might  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  mercy  inasmuch 
as  without  human  interference  most  of  the  birds 
would  probably  have  perished  from  their  injuries 
or  by  starvation,  yet  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted 
that  as  many  of  the  birds  as  possible  were  not 
taken  alive  and  given  an  opportunity  to  recover. 
I  believe  that  fully  one-third  of  the  116  swans 
taken  would  have  survived  if  given  the  proper 
care.  But  the  impulse  to  kill  was  stronger  than 
the  spirit  to  save,  and  not  even  a  pair  of  these 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     235 

unfortunate  birds  was  rescued  from  nature's 
doom  and  restored  to  nature's  freedom." 

The  injured  swan  seen  in  our  illustration  was 
secured  by  Mr.  Savage  half  an  hour  after  it  was 
picked  up  at  Bass  Rock  eddy.  It  could  not 
stand  or  use  its  wings,  but  nevertheless  he  took 
it  to  Buffalo  and  placed  it  under  the  care  of  the 
curator  of  the  Zoo  in  Delaware  Park.  It  quickly 
recovered  and  was  soon  floating  gracefully  on  the 
waters  of  Park  Lake. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  importance  of 
saving  as  many  as  possible  of  the  swans  which 
are  wounded  by  coming  over  Niagara  is  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  number  of  bird  lives 
actually  involved.  The  size  and  majesty  of 
these  kings  of  the  waterfowl,  together  with  the 
dramatic  nature  of  the  disaster  which  has  over- 
taken them,  insures  a  wide  publicity,  which  may 
be  made  either  to  help  or  injure  the  cause  of 
bird  protection.  Here  are  glorious,  world-fa- 
mous birds  which  are  braving  the  dangers  of  a 
long  journey  to  their  Arctic  home,  and  which 
have  even  survived  a  battle  with  one  of  the 
mightiest  cataracts  on  earth.  To  permit  these 
voyagers,  while  they  are  bruised  and  battered 
and  still  struggling  bravely  but  hopelessly  with 
the  savage  waters  of  the  gorge,  to  be  dragged  out 
upon  the  ice  and  choked  or  bludgeoned  to  death 


236  Wild  Bird  Guests 

is  highly  demoralizing — as  much  to  those  who 
permit  the  barbarous  practice  as  to  the  young 
men  who  murder  the  helpless  birds  for  money. 
Would  it  not  be  a  noble  work  for  the  Boy  Scouts, 
with  permission  from  the  authorities,  of  course, 
to  organize  a  "first-aid"  corps  to  save  the  swans 
wounded  by  going  over  Niagara  Falls?  The 
Scouts  could  arrange  to  patrol  the  river  bank 
at  certain  points  during  the  brief  period  in  March 
when  the  swans  usually  come  over,  take  the 
birds  from  the  water,  and  convey  them  to  some 
suitable  place  where  they  would  have  every 
chance  to  recover,  and  later  to  continue  their 
journey  northward.  Dead  birds,  instead  of 
being  plucked  and  eaten,  might  be  sent  to  mu- 
seums and  to  scientific  collectors  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  to  become  of  permanent  value 
as  skins  or  mounted  specimens.  Such  a  corps 
would  set  a  splendid  example,  and,  its  work 
would  become  widely  known. 

Disease 

Individual  scientists  here  and  there,  though 
usually  hampered  by  lack  of  sufficient  funds, 
are  doing  splendid  work  in  their  investigation 
of  the  causes  of  disease  in  birds  and  in  their 
search  for  methods  of  prevention  and  cure. 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     237 

But  a  great  epidemic  like  the  one  which  has 
recently  caused  such  havoc  among  the  waterfowl 
of  Utah,  usually  requires  prompt  and  vigorous 
action  by  the  Government.  At  the  outbreak 
of  any  epidemic  of  disease  among  birds,  the 
person  discovering  it  should  at  once  notify  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  at  Washington, 
District  of  Columbia,  and  await  instructions 
from  that  Bureau.  If,  on  investigation  by  the 
Bureau,  the  epidemic  threatens  to  be  serious, 
Congress  will  probably  be  asked  to  appropriate 
a  fund  with  which  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
stamping  out  the  disease. 

Natural  Enemies 

On  very  large  preserves  devoted  to  the  protec- 
tion of  birds  and  other  wild  life,  a  few  natural 
enemies  may  be  an  advantage.  Most  of  them 
eat  a  variety  of  food,  and  the  birds  which  they 
get  will  often  be  the  weaklings — those  which  are 
not  quite  healthy,  or  which  in  one  way  or  an- 
other fail  to  come  up  to  the  standard.  But  on 
a  small  place,  especially  one  which  it  is  designed 
to  make  particularly  attractive  to  birds,  I  should 
say  the  fewer  enemies  there  are  the  better.  On 
such  a  place,  a  fox,  a  pair  of  red  squirrels, 
a  house  cat,  or  a  sharp-shinned  hawk,  will  be 


238  Wild  Bird  Guests 

likely  to  prevent  a  normal  increase  of  the  bird 
population. 

Yet,  to  many  of  us  the  very  hardest  task 
we  have  to  perform  for  our  friends,  the  birds,  is 
the  killing  of  their  enemies.  It  is  always  a  sad 
thing  to  fire  a  gun  at  a  sharp-shinned  or  Cooper's 
hawk,  which  but  a  moment  before  perhaps  has 
been  sailing  far  above  the  earth,  a  beautiful 
creature  doing  nothing  more  wicked  than  look- 
ing for  his  dinner,  and  bring  him  crashing  down 
to  his  death.  Neither  does  one  enjoy  killing  a 
red  squirrel,  every  line  of  whose  muscular  little 
body  is  beautiful,  every  motion  graceful,  and 
whose  only  sin  is  the  eating  of  a  few  fresh  birds' 
eggs  for  breakfast.  If  we  are  thoughtful,  we 
shall  probably  ask  ourselves  some  questions,  such 
as,  "Are  sharp-shinned  hawks,  squirrels,  cats, 
skunks,  and  other  bird  enemies  to  blame  for 
what  they  do,  when  they  simply  act  as  nature 
intended  that  they  should?" 

But  if  we  are  reasonable  and  honest,  we  must 
try  to  answer  such  questions  truthfully.  Of 
course  these  animals  are  no  more  to  blame  for 
what  they  do  than  wolves  are  to  blame  for  killing 
sheep,  foxes  for  killing  hens,  or  tigers  for  killing 
men.  But  we  should  hardly  blame  a  shepherd 
for  shooting  a  wolf  if  it  threatened  his  sheepfold ; 
we  should  think  a  farmer  rather  stupid  if  he 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      239 

permitted  foxes  to  destroy  his  hens  year  after 
year  without  making  an  attempt  to  stop  them; 
and  if  a  man  were  killed  by  a  tiger  which  he  had 
refused  to  have  killed,  I'm  afraid  that  some  of  us 
would  be  rude  enough  to  say,  "  Served  him  right. " 

Man's  status  upon  this  earth  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  he  has  the  right  to  regulate 
in  so  far  as  he  is  able,  the  status  of  every  other 
animal  with  which  he  has  relations.  Unless  we 
deny  the  right  of  this  assumption  and  permit 
ourselves  to  be  dominated  by  the  wild  animals, 
we  must,  to  be  consistent,  protect  the  useful 
birds  from  their,  to  us,  less  useful  enemies. 

On  large  tracts  devoted  to  the  preservation  of 
birds,  one  way  to  get  rid  of  their  natural  enemies 
is  to  employ  one  or  more  men,  part  of  whose  duty 
it  should  be  to  shoot  and  trap.  Another  way 
is  to  give  some  local  trapper  the  privilege  of 
clearing  the  place  of  vermin.  Where  traps  are 
used  it  should  be  stipulated  that  they  be  visited 
frequently.  Such  work  should  not  be  intrusted 
to  boys  or  to  any  but  reliable  men. 

On  a  small  place  one  man  with  a  gun,  can, 
without  devoting  much  time  to  the  work,  do 
a  great  deal  toward  keeping  it  free  from  bird 
enemies.  For  example,  I  know  one  New  Hamp- 
shire man,  who  with  a  twenty-two  calibre  rifle, 
has  for  years  kept  his  home  farm  of  a  hundred 


240  Wild  Bird  Guests 

acres,  clear  of  red  squirrels,  house  cats,  and 
European  sparrows ;  reduced  the  chipmunk  pop- 
ulation as  much  as  seemed  necessary,  and  who 
has  shot  several  sharp-shinned  and  Cooper's 
hawks  and  two  northern  shrikes.  The  same 
man  has  shot  practically  all  the  red  squirrels 
in  the  nearby  village  of  Meriden,  and  with  the 
help  of  one  other  man  has  cleared  the  village 
of  European  sparrows.  Most  of  the  latter  were 
shot,  but  a  few  were  caught  in  a  sparrow  trap. 
Both  of  these  men  lead  very  busy  lives — one  is  a 
doctor,  the  other  a  writer — but  by  carrying  their 
guns  occasionally  while  going  about  their  work, 
they  have  been  able  to  free  the  local  birds  of 
nearly  all  their  natural  foes. 

It  has  been  the  experience  of  men  who  have 
made  determined  effort  to  rid  a  given  place  of 
such  bird  enemies,  that  the  task  becomes  in- 
creasingly easy.  In  Meriden,  for  example,  about 
two  hundred  red  squirrels  were  shot  the  first  year, 
perhaps  fifty  the  second,  and  now  the  shooting 
of  half  a  dozen  squirrels  a  year  is  all  that  is 
necessary,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  village  is 
full  of  trees  and  is  surrounded  by  woodland. 

European  Sparrows 

It  was  the  same  with  the  sparrow  problem. 
At  first  Meriden  was  like  any  other  sparrow- 


^ 


> 


*r 


k  j- : 


m 


* 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     241 

infested  village.  The  pests  were  everywhere, 
and  nest  boxes  put  up  for  native  birds  were  at 
once  appropriated  by  the  intruders.  A  couple 
of  guns  began  to  speak,  and  spoke  at  intervals 
for  perhaps  three  or  four  weeks.  After  that 
they  spoke  less  and  less  frequently  until  at 
length  they  were  silent.  What  European  sparrows 
had  not  been  shot  had  sought  a  milder  climate. 
But  there  is  a  townful  of  them  seven  miles  to  the 
north  and  a  villageful  of  them  four  miles  to  the 
south,  and  about  once  a  year  a  flock  of  twenty 
or  thirty  drift  into  Meriden.  At  once  guns  are 
fired  in  honor  of  their  arrival,  and  those  which 
are  able  to  leave  generally  do  so  without  even 
stopping  to  say  good-bye.  Occasionally  a  few 
will  stay  about  the  village  for  a  day  or  two  but  it 
is  no  use,  they  are  simply  not  allowed  to  get  a 
foothold. 

And  while  I  am  on  this  subject  let  me  say  that 
the  work  of  exterminating  the  European  sparrow 
is  not  for  children.  It  is  hard  work — unpleasant 
work — and  should  be  done  by  real  men  who  know 
the  bird  from  all  others  and  who  are  prepared  to 
camp  on  its  trail  until  there  isn't  a  specimen  left 
in  the  locality.  Any  other  course  is  generally  a 
waste  of  time ;  it  may  give  temporary  relief,  but 
the  work  has  to  be  done  all  over  again  and  any 
cruelty  which  may  be  involved  must  be  repeated 

16 


242  Wild  Bird  Guests 

at  the  next  trial.  Clear  the  town  thoroughly 
just  once,  and  thereafter  it  will  be  comparatively 
easy  to  keep  it  cleared.  Don't  attempt  to  get 
rid  of  sparrows  by  tearing  down  the  nests — an 
infant  should  realize  the  futility  of  this  method. 
The  birds  will  have  another  nest  built  before 
you're  up  next  morning,  and  will  play  the  game 
with  you  about  once  a  day  during  the  rest  of 
their  long  nesting  season.  Kill  the  birds  and 
your  work  is  done  once  and  for  all.  Dead 
sparrows  make  no  nests. 

The  principal  methods  employed  to  destroy 
European  sparrows,  are  trapping,  shooting,  and 
poisoning.  Of  these,  trapping  is  the  safest, 
and  poisoning  the  most  effective  when  large 
numbers  of  birds  are  to  be  disposed  of.  In 
Farmers9  Bulletin  493,  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  written  by  Mr.  Ned  Dear- 
born, and  entitled,  "The  English  Sparrow  as  a 
Pest, "  there  are  some  excellent  suggestions  for 
trapping,  and  detailed  plans  for  making  sparrow 
traps.  And  there  are  some  fairly  good  traps  on 
the  market.  In  most  of  these  traps  the  birds 
are  caught  uninjured  and  must  be  disposed  of 
afterwards.  This  makes  it  possible  to  liberate 
any  other  birds  which  may  be  caught  unin- 
tentionally. Almost  any  kind  of  small  grain — 
wheat,  oats,  cracked  corn,  or  birdseed  will  do  to 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     243 

bait  a  sparrow  trap,  and  it  should  be  kept  baited 
all  the  time. 

The  following  directions  for  poisoning  sparrows 
are  given  by  Professor  Clifton  F.  Hodge,  based 
on  the  results  of  his  own  careful  and  successful 
experiments,  and  are  the  best  I  know  of: 

"  Dissolve  one-eighth  of  an  ounce  of  powdered 
strychnine  sulphate  in  one  half  pint  of  boiling 
water.  Pour  this,  while  hot,  over  two  quarts  of 
wheat  (or  cracked  corn),  stir  well,  and  continue 
stirring  from  time  to  time,  until  all  the  liquid  is 
absorbed.  Dry  thoroughly,  without  scorching, 
and  put  away  in  some  safe  receptacle,  labelled: 
*  Poisoned  Grain.  Strychnine/ 

"  It  requires  but  one  kernel  to  kill  a  sparrow. 
A  quart  of  wheat  contains  about  twenty- three 
thousand  kernels,  and  as  a  sparrow  seldom  takes 
more  than  two  or  three,  you  have  enough  to  rid 
the  neighborhood  of  about  twenty  thousand 
sparrows.  Expose  the  grain  where  poultry 
and  tame  pigeons  cannot  get  it,  and  by  oper- 
ating only  during  the  winter  there  will  be  no 
danger  of  poisoning  seed-eating  wild  birds,  at 
least  for  all  northern  towns  and  cities.  By 
taking  advantage  of  the  sparrows'  gregarious 
habits,  and  the  fact  that  they  drive  off  other 
birds  from  localities  where  they  are  numerous, 
much  might  be  done  even  in  the  south. 


244  Wild  Bird  Guests 

"Sparrows  are  such  suspicious  and  cunning 
birds,  that,  if  the  strychnine  grain  be  exposed  at 
first,  they  will  probably  roll  each  kernel  in  their 
bills,  taste  it,  reject  it,  and  possibly  refuse  to 
touch  it  again  that  winter.  The  best  way  is  to 
select  a  safe  place,  where  the  wind  is  not  likely 
to  scatter  it — a  walk,  driveway,  or  porch  roof  with 
a  smooth  surface  so  that  the  grain  may  be  swept 
up  after  each  trial.  Accustom  them  to  feeding 
there  daily  with  grain  exactly  like  that  which  is 
medicated  (I  often  do  this  for  a  week  or  even  a 
month,  until  all  the  sparrows  in  the  neighborhood 
are  wont  to  come  regularly),  study  the  times 
when  they  come  for  their  meals,  and  then  on  a 
cold,  dry  morning  after  a  heavy  snowstorm, 
having  swept  up  all  the  good  grain  the  night 
before,  wait  until  they  have  gathered  and  then 
put  down  enough  strychnized  grain  to  feed  the 
entire  flock.  You  have  about  ten  minutes  before 
any  begin  to  drop,  and  those  that  have  not  par- 
taken of  the  grain  by  this  time  will  probably  be 
frightened  off;  but  by  timing  it  properly  I  have 
repeatedly  caught  every  sparrow  in  the  flock. 
I  have  found  the  morning  the  best  time  as  they 
all  come  then;  and  it  is  essential  to  success  to 
select  a  dry  day,  since  in  wet  weather  they  taste 
the  strychnine  too  quickly;  I  have  seen  them 
actually  throw  it  out  of  the  crop. 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      245 

"With  this  simple  method  at  command,  by 
concerted  action  a  few  friends  of  our  native  birds 
can  rid  any  northern  city  of  the  sparrow  pest  in 
a  single  winter.  This  is  no  more  than  parents 
ought  to  be  willing  to  do,  if  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
native  birds,  at  least  to  clear  the  way  for  the 
children  to  do  effective  work  in  their  behalf." 

The  shotgun,  too,  may  sometimes  be  very 
useful  in  the  war  on  sparrows.  In  sparsely 
settled  districts  it  may  generally  be  used  without 
danger,  and  the  other  birds  are  only  temporarily 
frightened  by  the  noise.  If  the  sparrows  are 
accustomed  to  feeding  in  densely  packed  flocks 
around  small  heaps  of  grain,  a  great  many  may 
be  killed  at  one  discharge  of  the  weapon.  The 
gun  is  also  very  useful  for  gathering  in  here  and 
there,  single  birds  which  have  become  too  wary 
for  trap  or  poison.  When  there  is  an  oppor- 
tunity to  shoot  only  one  of  several  birds,  the 
gunner  should  select  a  female  for  obvious  reasons. 
A  preponderance  of  males  is  said  to  further  the 
work  of  extermination. 

Almost  any  town  or  city  can  be  cleared  of 
European  sparrows  and  kept  clear  of  them,  if 
just  a  few  men  of  resource  and  resolution  will 
undertake  the  work.  In  almost  any  town  there 
are  a  certain  number  of  men  who  have  made  a 
great  success  in  business,  and  I  know  and  they 


246  Wild  Bird  Guests 

know  that  if  the  sparrows  had  stood  between  any 
one  of  them  and  the  success  he  has  made,  there 
would  not  be  a  single  sparrow  in  that  town. 

Crows 

It  would  probably  be  unwise  to  exterminate 
the  crows  even  where  some  individuals  are 
addicted  to  nest-robbing.  Such  individuals 
should  of  course  be  shot,  if  possible,  and  even 
a  general  thinning  out  may  be  advisable.  But 
crows  are  very  intelligent  and  interesting  birds, 
and  the  writer,  for  one,  would  miss  them  sadly 
if  they  were  all  gone.  Nevertheless  we  must 
have  consideration  for  the  farmer  and  try  to 
help  him  to  prevent  the  pulling  of  his  corn  and 
other  grain  by  the  crows. 

A  single  dead  crow,  hung  up  by  the  feet  in  a 
conspicuous  place  usually  makes  the  best  kind  of 
a  scare-crow  and  will  protect  a  considerable  area 
of  ground. 

One  of  the  most  effective  methods  of  prevent- 
ing the  pulling  of  corn  is  to  give  the  corn  a  thin 
coating  of  tar.  There  are  several  ways  of  doing 
this.  One  of  the  best  is  to  soak  the  corn  in 
water  until  it  begins  to  germinate,  and  then  stir 
in  enough  tar  to  give  each  kernel  a  thin  coating. 
Some  farmers  simply  moisten  the  corn  with  warm 
water  before  stirring  in  the  tar.  If  the  latter 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     247 

is  applied  while  the  corn  is  dry,  it  is  said  to 
retard  germination  two  or  three  days.  After 
the  grain  has  been  coated  it  is  usually  rolled  in 
plaster,  wood  ashes,  or  similar  absorbent  before 
planting.  The  only  objection  to  this  is  that  it 
prevents  the  use  of  the  planting  machine.  A 
little  experimenting  would  probably  result  in  the 
discovery  of  a  method  to  which  there  were  no 
objections. 

Cats 

The  house  cat  problem  is  one  of  the  hardest 
with  which  the  bird  lover  has  to  contend.  The 
genuine  affection  which  many  people  have  for 
cats,  the  enormous  numbers  and  wide  distri- 
bution of  the  animals,  and  the  fact  that  they 
have  a  certain  value  as  destroyers  of  rats  and 
mice,  all  tend  to  increase  the  difficulty  of  solv- 
ing the  problem.  But  the  very  difficulty  should 
strengthen  our  determination  to  solve  it,  for  its 
solution  is  of  very  great  consequence. 

Personally  the  writer  has  no  faith  in  the  idea 
of  training  cats.  As  Mr.  Forbush  says,  there 
are  some  cats  which  may  be  trained  not  to  kill 
birds  but  it  is  the  writer's  belief  that  they  are 
few.  Fewer  still  are  the  owners  who  possess  the 
inclination,  the  time,  and  the  very  considerable 
knowledge  necessary  to  train  them.  Neither  has 


248  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  writer  much  faith  in  the  belling  of  cats.  In- 
nocent young  birds  which  are  often  the  victims 
pay  no  attention  to  a  bell,  and  though  adult 
birds  may  often  be  saved  by  the  warning  tinkle, 
so  will  the  rats  and  mice,  to  destroy  which  the 
cats  are  presumably  kept.  Confinement  is  cer- 
tainly effective  and  cat  owners  should  resort  to 
this  method  to  whatever  extent  is  necessary  to 
prevent  their  pets  from  killing  birds.  If  the  cat 
owner  will  think  the  matter  over  very  calmly, 
he  will  realize  that  his  neighbor  has  certain  rights 
which  should  be  respected ;  rights  which  his 
neighbor  should,  if  necessary,  insist  on  having 
respected — the  right  to  do  his  duty  by  protecting 
our  native  birds,  for  instance.  A  cat  owner  who 
persists  in  balking  a  neighbor  who  is  unselfishly 
striving  to  do  his  duty  in  this  way,  simply  be- 
cause it  may  be  pleasant  or  convenient  to  keep 
cats,  places  himself  in  an  absolutely  untenable 
position.  He  has  no  more  right  to-do  it  than 
he  has  to  keep  a  savage  dog  at  large  and  thus 
prevent  his  neighbor  from  voting.  Personally  I 
insist  on  my  rights  in  this  matter.  My  bird 
guests  are  and  always  will  be  assured  of  the 
fullest  protection  I  can  give  them.  Further- 
more, cats  are  not  allowed  in  the  Bird  Sanctuary 
which  is  under  my  management.  It  would  be  a 
crime  to  lure  song  birds  to  a  supposed  haven  of 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      249 

refuge  and  then  permit  them  to  be  mangled  by 
cats.  When  a  cat  crosses  the  boundary  of  our 
bird  sanctuary  he  automatically  signs  his  own 
death  warrant.  All  the  neighbors  know  this  and 
take  care  of  such  cats  as  they  consider  worth 
keeping.  Most  of  them  realize  the  justice  of  the 
stand  which  is  taken,  and  when  a  cat  disappears 
no  questions  are  asked. 

Some  people  may  argue,  "Suppose  cats  do 
kill  birds;  haven't  cats  as  much  right  to  live  as 
the  birds?"  Perhaps  they  have,  but  since  many 
a  cat  destroys  a  hundred  birds  in  the  course  of  its 
life — sometimes  in  one  year  of  its  life,  we  must 
change  the  question  a  little  and  ask:  "Has  a 
cat  a  hundred  times  as  much  right  to  live?"  I 
think  even  an  ardent  cat  lover  will  hesitate 
before  answering  "yes"  to  this  question.  And 
if  he  does  answer  "yes,"  some  people  may  find 
it  very  hard  to  agree  with  him. 

No  sensible  person  would  advocate  the  exter- 
mination of  cats,  but  I  do  believe  that  a  serious 
effort  should  be  made  to  get  rid  of  unnecessary 
ones.  There  are  many  people  owning  a  number 
of  these  animals  who  could  get  along  perfectly 
well  with  one;  and  many  other  people,  each  of 
whom  has  one  cat  too  dearly  beloved  to  give  up, 
who  might  without  serious  sacrifice  resolve  that 
when  it  died  they  would  never  replace  it. 


250  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Entirely  apart  from  their  relation  to  our  song 
birds,  there  is  another  vital  reason  for  keeping 
the  cat  population  of  this  country  down  to  the 
minimum.  The  evidence  against  the  domestic 
cat  as  a  carrier  of  disease  appears  to  be  increased 
by  every  investigation  of  this  subject  by  com- 
petent people.  Any  lengthy  discussion  of  the 
matter  would  be  quite  out  of  place  in  a  bird 
book,  but  the  writer  feels  it  his  duty  to  say  just 
enough  to  make  intelligent  owners  of  cats  wish 
to  know  a  little  more  concerning  the  cat  as  a 
factor  in  sanitary  science.  The  fact  that  cats 
carry  and  transmit  bubonic  plague  is  well  estab- 
lished. There  is  also  positive  proof  that  cats  are 
subject  to  tuberculosis  and  diphtheria;  that  they 
are  very  susceptible  to  scabies  and  may  transmit 
this  disease  to  dogs,  cows,  horses,  and  men ;  that 
they  are  subject  to  pulmonary  distomatosis, 
which  is  characterized  by  coughing  and  hemor- 
rhage of  the  lungs,  and  that  they  afe  frequently 
infected  with  ringworm,  blood  flukes,  and  other 
unpleasant  and  dangerous  diseases.  The  writer 
is  inclined  to  believe  that  the  fondling  of  cats  by 
children  may  be  the  source  of  many  of  the  seem- 
ingly mysterious  cases  of  illness  where  the  little 
patients  "have  not  been  exposed"  to  the  diseases 
from  which  they  suffer. 

Anyone  wishing  to  learn  more  about  this  sub- 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      251 

ject,  should  first  obtain  from  the  Biological  De- 
partment of  Clark  University  a  copy  of  The 
Cat  and  the  Transmission  of  Disease,  by  Dr.  C. 
A.  Osborne.  If  they  wish  to  go  still  farther,  they 
will  find  in  the  back  of  Dr.  Osborne's  pamphlet, 
a  list  of  thirty-two  other  books  and  pamphlets 
bearing  more  or  less  on  this  very  important 
matter. 

But  after  all,  it  would  seem  that  the  best  and 
fairest  solution  of  the  cat  problem  lay  in  a 
reasonable  tax,  similar  to  that  levied  upon  the 
owners  of  dogs.  If  there  were  a  tax  of  say  one 
dollar  for  each  male  cat  and  five  dollars  for  each 
female,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  birds  would  be 
saved,  the  sufferings  of  innumerable  homeless 
cats  would  be  prevented,  and  without  injury 
to  anyone.  Granting  that  it  is  necessary  for 
some  people  to  keep  one  or  more  cats  as  a  check 
upon  the  rats  and  mice,  surely  any  real  necessity 
is  worth  one  dollar  a  year — the  proposed  tax 
on  a  male  cat,  which  is  said  to  be  more  than  the 
equal  of  the  female  as  a  destroyer  of  rodents. 
The  result  of  such  a  tax  would  be  that  every 
person  who  really  needed  a  cat  would  be  able  to 
keep  one  for  a  nominal  fee,  but  that  when  such 
a  fee  was  required,  few  people  would  keep  more 
cats  than  were  necessary.  It  would  undoubtedly 
result  in  a  great  reduction  in  the  number  of 


252  Wild  Bird  Guests 

female  cats  and  consequently  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  unnecessary  cats  brought  into  the 
world.  As  a  result  of  a  similar  tax  on  dogs, 
there  is  just  one  female  dog  in  our  own  village; 
there  are  scores  of  female  cats. 

The  writer  fails  to  see  any  legitimate  objection 
which  can  be  made  to  imposing  such  a  tax. 
All  humane  persons,  and  especially  cat  lovers, 
should  welcome  such  a  measure,  first  because  it 
would  at  once  give  the  cat  a  legal  status  which  it 
does  not  now  enjoy,  and  at  the  same  time  prevent 
the  misery  now  suffered  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  unnecessary  and  sadly  neglected  cats, 
many  of  which  get  their  revenge  on  thoughtless 
humanity,  in  the  country  by  destroying  useful 
birds,  and  in  the  city  by  preventing  peace- 
ful slumber.  And  surely  all  dealers  in  cats 
should  be  favorable  to  such  taxation  because 
the  demand  for  the  high-grade  cat?  which  they 
breed  would  be  increased  owing  to  the  great 
reduction  in  the  supply  of  common  cats,  and 
because  there  would  be  a  tendency  to  own  a  cat 
worth  paying  a  tax  on.  Then  from  the  money 
derived  from  this  tax  there  might  be  employed 
in  each  town  an  officer  or  officers  whose  duty 
it  was  to  be  informed  of  the  number  of  cats 
owned  by  each  family  and  to  humanely  destroy 
all  cats  not  licensed  according  to  law.  It  would 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      253 

seem  that  intelligent  people  everywhere,  cat 
lovers  and  bird  lovers  alike,  should  get  together 
and  discuss  this  question  calmly  and  without 
prejudice  or  bitterness,  and  see  if  they  cannot 
help  one  another  out.  Of  course,  no  cat  lover 
likes  to  have  a  favorite  cat  shot  or  trapped  or 
poisoned,  and  no  bird  lover  can  be  happy  if  a  cat 
is  permitted  to  mangle  and  torture  the  gentle 
feathered  guests  who  come  to  the  garden  and 
orchard.  It  is  unneighborly  to  kill  one's  neigh- 
bor's cat,  but  just  as  unneighborly  to  permit  a 
cat  to  kill  one's  neighbor's  birds.  Let  us  be 
neighborly  and  work  together  to  devise  a  reason- 
able plan  whereby  it  may  be  possible  to  have 
what  cats  are  necessary  with  the  minimum 
danger  to  the  birds.  And  let  us  begin  at  once, 
for  as  Frank  M.  Chapman  sums  up  the  situation, 
"The  most  important  problem  confronting  bird 
protectors  to-day  is  the  devising  of  proper 
means  for  the  disposition  of  the  surplus  cat 
population  of  this  country. " 

Dogs 

Dogs  are  seldom  very  destructive  to  birds. 
This  is  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  they  do  not 
climb,  partly  to  the  fact  that  their  method  of 
hunting  is  not,  as  a  rule,  well  adapted  to  the 


254  Wild  Bird  Guests 

capturing  of  creatures  endowed  with  flight,  and 
partly  to  the  fact  that  they  are  more  directly 
under  the  control  of  their  masters.  Neverthe- 
less, some  dogs  are  notorious  bird  killers  and 
when  it  is  shown  that  they  cannot  be  controlled, 
they  should  be  given  a  painless  death  in  the 
interest  of  the  many  birds  whose  lives  would 
otherwise  be  taken. 

Forestry  and  Bird  Conservation 

It  goes  without  saying  that  every  effort  to 
save  the  forests  is  indirectly  an  effort  to  save 
the  birds.  The  relation  between  birds  and  trees 
is  such  that  each  one  tends  to  preserve  the  other. 
Forestry  in  one  sense,  then,  means  bird  con- 
servation, so  bird  lovers  should  always  be  willing 
to  lend  a  hand  in  the  work  of  saving  the  forests. 
The  planting  of  trees  and  shrubs  should  be 
encouraged  everywhere.  The  planting  of  hedges 
should  also  be  encouraged ;  this  form  of  fencing 
is  beautiful,  permanent,  and  very  attractive  to 
birds.  Farmers  can  help  the  work  by  sparing 
the  trees  and  shrubs  which  grow  naturally  by  the 
sides  of  the  roads  and  lanes.  By  cutting  these 
down  they  may  gain  a  few  inches  of  unshaded 
land,  but  they  mar  the  beauty  of  the  country- 
side and  drive  away  the  birds,  whose  services 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      255 

they  need.  And  farmers  should  find  time  to  do 
a  little  planting  on  purpose  for  the  birds.  There 
are  on  almost  every  farm  waste  places  which 
could  gradually  be  filled  up  with  trees  and  shrubs 
and  creepers  which  would  insure  the  presence 
of  many  birds  useful  to  the  farmer.  If  properly 
selected,  these  would  often  save  the  cultivated 
fruits  which  certain  birds  are  so  fond  of. 

Forest  Fires 

The  desire  to  protect  birds  should  be  another 
incentive  to  take  every  precaution  to  prevent 
forest  fires,  and  to  quickly  check  and  extinguish 
those  which  have  not  been  prevented.  Owners 
and  managers  of  bird  preserves  will  do  well 
to  consult  the  best  authorities  on  the  subject 
of  preventing  and  fighting  forest  fires.  In  one 
night  a  fire  may  undo  the  work  of  years.  And 
fire  wardens  when  asked  for  permission  to  burn 
over  certain  areas  for  any  purpose,  should  always 
give  due  consideration  to  the  probable  effect 
upon  the  bird  population,  not  only  of  the  area  in 
question,  but  of  the  town  in  which  it  is  situated. 

Lighthouses 

In  order  to  prevent  the  loss  of  bird  life  which 
occurs  about  our  lighthouses  every  year,  perhaps 


256  Wild  Bird  Guests 

we  cannot  do  better  than  to  follow  the  plan 
carried  out  by  the  Royal  Society  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  Birds  at  St.  Catherine's,  Isle  of  Wight, 
and  at  several  other  lighthouses  on  the  English 
coast.  It  seems  that  the  birds  do  not,  as  a  rule, 
kill  themselves  by  dashing  against  the  lighthouse 
as  was  at  first  supposed,  but  by  fluttering  about 
it  until  they  fall  to  the  ground  from  sheer  exhaus- 
tion. It  has  been  found  that  if  "bird-rests"  or 
perches  are  arranged  above  and  below  the  light 
as  pictured  here,  the  fluttering  birds  will  find 
them,  perch  on  them  until  morning,  and  then 
go  on  their  way  unharmed.  The  chief  drawback 
seems  to  be  the  expense  of  installing  the  bird- 
rests,  but  with  the  vast  number  of  friends  which 
the  birds  now  have  in  this  country,  this  expense 
could  hardly  be  prohibitive. 

Market  Gunning  and  Plume  Hunting 

As  for  market  gunning  and  plume  hunting, 
they  are  in  many  places  already  things  of  the 
past.  Where  they  still  exist,  the  writer  believes 
that  they  should  be  done  away  with  at  once  as 
professions  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  people.  The  men  engaged  in  these  pursuits 
often  have  valuable  knowledge  of  the  birds  and 
their  habits,  and  this  knowledge  may  sometimes 


*•  # 

•4*  '•> 


-r    "   y'ii  ^*     ^^.<4*fc" 

rv-^          .    >ffS«- 

s**  --  ^*      '  \        Jfa  *&***? 

</«C 


n^jBjw 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      257 

be  turned  to  good  account.  A  reformed  gunner, 
if  honest,  may  make  the  best  kind  of  a  game 
warden. 

Sportsmen 

The  term  "sportsman"  in  its  very  best  sense, 
is  practically  synonymous  with  "gentleman." 
Both  stand  for  the  spirit  of  fair  play  and  decent 
conduct.  With  the  true  sportsman,  therefore,  we 
can  find  no  fault ;  he  takes  no  unfair  advantage 
of  the  wild  things  whether  the  law  permits  him 
to  or  not;  he  prides  himself  on  small  bags 
rather  than  on  large  ones,  and  does  not  shoot  at 
all  when  for  any  reason  game  is  becoming  scarce. 
He  does  his  best  to  secure  good  game  laws,  and 
to  see  that  they  are  enforced,  and  to  encourage 
the  establishment  of  game  refuges  and  bird 
sanctuaries,  public  and  private. 

So-called  Sportsmen 

Unfortunately  there  is  a  large  body  of  so- 
called  sportsmen  or  perhaps  we  should  say 
"self-styled"  sportsmen,  who  constitute  one  of 
the  most  difficult  problems  with  which  the  bird- 
protector  has  to  contend.  To  be  sure,  some  of 
them  obey  the  letter  of  the  law,  but  they  lack 
the  fine  sensibilities  of  the  gentleman,  which 

17 


258  Wild  Bird  Guests 

restrain  the  true  sportsman  when  his  reason 
and  sense  of  justice  tell  him  that  a  law  is  inade- 
quate. They  are  often  selfish  and  inconsiderate. 
How  unfair  it  seems  when  we  realize  that  if  you 
and  I  own  farms  adjoining  a  third  farm  owned 
by  one  of  these  men,  and  if  there  are  thirty 
quail  on  the  three  farms,  he  can  take  his  gun 
and  shoot,  not  only  his  ten,  but  your  ten  and  my 
ten  as  well,  in  spite  of  our  earnest  protests. 
Surely  we  have  as  much  right  to  our  share  of 
these  birds  alive  as  he  has  to  his  share  dead, 
especially  as  the  living  quail  are  performing 
valuable  service  for  the  community,  and  are 
the  ones  from  which  future  generations  of  quail 
would  come.  But  we're  not  allowed  to  have 
them  alive.  If  we  want  them  at  all,  we  must 
take  a  gun  and  kill  them — and  kill  them  soon — 
before  our  neighbor,  the  self-styled  sportsman, 
can  get  them. 

Looking  at  the  matter  from  another  stand- 
point, it  is  dishonest  to  cause  our  wild  birds  to 
diminish  in  numbers  or  to  permit  others  to  cause 
such  diminution.  In  the  wild  birds,  our  ancestors 
have  left  us  a  valuable  property,  which,  if  we 
are  honest,  we  shall  pass  on  undiminished  to  the 
next  generation.  In  the  matter  of  game  birds, 
we  are  perhaps  entitled  to  the  interest — that  is, 
the  increase,  but  not  one  bird  more;  we  cannot 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     259 

take  more  without  literally  stealing  it  from  those 
who  come  after  us — it  is  not  ours  to  take.  To 
concede  that  we  have  the  right  to  take  ever  so 
small  a  percentage  beyond  the  natural  increase 
of  any  species,  means  the  extermination  of  that 
species,  and  any  schoolboy  with  a  pencil  and 
paper  can  prove  it. 

The  passage  of  the  famous  federal  migratory 
bird  law  is  already  bringing  relief  to  many  of  the 
harassed  birds,  and  its  good  effect  will  be  greatly 
increased  when  we  secure  a  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  providing  for  the  protection  of  all  birds 
that  migrate  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada. 

In  addition,  we  should  see  to  it  that  closed 
seasons  are  provided  for  all  game  birds  in  any 
given  locality,  that  are  not  more  than  holding 
their  own,  and  for  other  game  birds  open  seasons 
short  enough  and  bag  limits  small  enough  to 
absolutely  prevent  the  decrease  of  those  birds 
by  shooting. 

Ignorant  Foreigners 

In  order  to  deal  most  effectively  with  the 
ignorant  foreigners,  we  should  first,  by  setting 
a  good  example,  show  them  the  love  we  have  for 
our  native  birds.  We  must  let  them  know  by 
notices  printed  in  their  own  languages,  that  we 


26o  Wild  Bird  Guests 

have  laws  which  protect  our  birds,  and  that 
there  are  penalties  for  the  breaking  of  these  laws. 
Then,  usually,  there  is  in  every  colony  of  for- 
eigners, at  least  one  man  of  some  influence  who 
has  been  here  longer  than  the  rest,  who  is  better 
educated,  speaks  English,  and  who  is  looked  up 
to  as  a  counsellor  and  friend  by  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen. It  is  often  wise  to  ask  the  cooperation 
of  this  man,  who  should  be  glad  to  work  with  us 
to  prevent  his  friends  from  getting  themselves 
into  serious  trouble  through  the  violation  of 
our  laws.  The  editors  of  papers  which  circulate 
among  these  people  should  always  be  willing  to 
help,  and  all  contractors  employing  foreigners, 
should,  by  the  terms  of  their  contracts  or  other- 
wise, be  made  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the 
birds  in  the  localities  where  their  men  are  work- 
ing. Illustrated  lectures  on  the  protection  of 
birds,  if  really  convincing,  are  apt  to  do  a  lot  of 
good.  Some  time  ago  the  writer  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  giving  a  lecture  before  the  members  of  a 
colony  of  Italian  workmen  and  their  wives  and 
children.  The  lecture  was  given  in  English,  of 
which  the  audience  knew  little  or  nothing,  but 
by  a  logical  series  of  pictures,  accompanied  by 
gestures  and  changes  in  the  tone  of  the  voice, 
they  were  made  to  follow  the  speaker  with 
intelligent  interest,  which  was  manifested  by 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     261 

their  earnest  and  animated  conversations  during 
and  after  the  lecture.  The  members  of  that 
audience  had  been  especially  active  in  the  killing 
of  birds,  but  their  American  instructors  believe 
that  the  lecture  has  had  a  markedly  good  effect 
upon  them.  The  worst  offender  in  the  audience 
came  to  his  teacher  next  morning  and  volun- 
teered the  promise  that  he  would  never  kill 
another  bird. 

Ignorant  Whites  and  Negroes  in  the  South 

The  problem  of  the  ignorant  whites  and  ne- 
groes of  the  south,  is  of  course  a  serious  one,  but 
by  no  means  unsolvable.  The  closing  of  the 
markets  for  the  sale  of  birds  will  do  much  to 
discourage  the  slaughter  which  has  character- 
ized many  of  the  southern  states.  A  stiff  gun 
license  would  save  the  birds  from  an  army  of 
tattered  pot-hunters  who  now  rake  the  fields 
and  woods,  and  might  be  the  means  of  making 
self-respecting  citizens  out  of  some  of  these  shift- 
less, hand-to-mouth  people.  But  after  all,  it 
will  be  the  education  of  the  rising  generation 
which  will  have  the  most  lasting  effect.  Teachers 
both  white  and  colored  can  perform  a  valuable 
service  to  their  country  by  fixing  in  the  minds  of 
their  pupils  the  importance  of  protecting  our 
birds.  Mr.  E.  A.  Quarles,  an  officer  in  the 


262  Wild  Bird  Guests 

American  Game  Protective  and  Propagation 
Association,  himself  a  southerner,  speaks  most 
highly  of  the  teachers  in  the  southern  schools, 
and  especially  of  the  colored  teachers.  And 
colored  people  should  be  encouraged  to  have 
their  own  bird  clubs.  Colored  boys  and  girls 
can  be  taught  to  make  nesting  boxes  and  bird 
baths  and  to  plant  trees  and  shrubs,  and  after 
they  become  interested  in  this  sort  of  work  the 
desire  to  kill  will  occupy  smaller  and  smaller 
space  in  their  hearts. 

And  the  churches,  not  only  in  the  south,  but 
all  over  the  country,  might  fittingly  take  a  part 
in  this  much  needed  work.  I  would  suggest 
the  observance  of  what  might  be  called  "Bird 
Sunday,"  on  which  the  attention  of  every  con- 
gregation in  the  country  might  be  called  to  the 
beauty  and  usefulness  of  birds  and  the  importance 
of  protecting  them.  I  know  of  no  more  beautiful 
or  more  fitting  theme  for  a  sermon.  The  min- 
isters in  my  own  village  have  already  promised 
to  preach  on  this  subject  and,  if  their  example  is 
widely  followed,  I  believe  that  very  great  good 
will  come  of  it. 

Miners,  Lumbermen,  etc. 

There  seems  to  be  no  legitimate  reason  why 
the  employees  of  mining  and  lumber  camps 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      263 

should  be  permitted  to  live  on  the  wild  birds 
about  them,  any  more  than  they  should  be 
allowed  to  live  on  the  crops  and  herds  on  the 
nearby  farms  if  there  are  any.  In  the  old  days 
when  there  were  no  railroads  and  when  game 
was  very  plentiful,  it  was  of  course  perfectly  right 
for  pioneers  of  all  kinds  to  live  as  best  they  could, 
and  to  take  the  food  which  nature  provided. 
But  now  camps  are  too  numerous  to  justify  the 
men  in  living  off  the  country;  and  the  game  is 
not  sufficiently  abundant  to  stand  it.  Moreover, 
there  are  now  ample  markets  for  the  purchase 
of  provisions  of  all  kinds  and  in  most  places 
ample  means  of  transporting  these  provisions. 
Save  in  very  rare  cases  the  feeding  of  the  men  is 
a  problem  to  be  solved  by  the  men  themselves  or 
by  their  employer,  and  they  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  solve  it  by  stripping  the  country  of 
game,  only  a  very  small  part  of  which  may  be 
said  to  belong  to  them. 

How  Farmers  Can  Help 

And  the  farmers,  who  more  than  any  other 
one  class  perhaps  are  directly  benefited  by  the 
birds  should  help  with  the  work  of  protecting 
them.  They  might  begin  by  studying  the  birds, 
at  least  enough  to  enable  them  to  know  their 
friends  from  their  enemies.  For  instance,  every 


264  Wild  Bird  Guests 

farmer  should  be  able  to  distinguish  the  two  or 
three  destructive  hawks  from  all  other  hawks, 
and  forbid  the  shooting  of  any  but  the  destruc- 
tive kinds.  In  their  own  interest  they  should 
oppose  all  legislation  providing  for  a  bounty  on 
hawks  and  owls.  In  1885  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  passed  what  was  known  as  "The 
Scalp  Act,"  which  was  supposed  to  be  in  the 
interest  of  the  farmers,  and  which  provided  for  a 
bounty  of  fifty  cents  on  each  hawk,  owl,  weasel, 
and  mink  killed  within  the  limits  of  the  state. 
Dr.  Clinton  Hart  Merriam,  then  Ornithologist 
and  Mammalogist  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  in  his  report  to  the  De- 
partment, estimated  that  to  save  a  loss  of 
possibly  $1875  a  year  through  the  destruction 
of  poultry,  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  had  in  a 
year  and  a  half  paid  $90,000.  He  further  re- 
ported that  this  money  had  been  paid  for  the 
destruction  of  128,571  benefactors,  worth  at 
least  $3,857,130  to  the  agricultural  interests 
of  the  state.  In  other  words  that  the  state  had 
for  a  year  and  a  half  been  throwing  away  $2105 
for  every  dollar  saved. 

The  Small  Boy 

Somehow   I    can    never   become   very   much 
worried  over  the  question  of  the  small  boy  with 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners      265 

his  air  gun  and  sling  shot.  I  know  he  does  a  lot 
of  harm,  but  as  a  rule  he  isn't  pigheaded,  and  as 
soon  as  someone  he  believes  in  will  take  the 
trouble  to  explain  the  situation  to  him,  he'll 
turn  right  round  and  become  a  bird  protector 
of  a  very  useful  kind.  The  harm  he  does  is 
usually  the  fault  of  the  people  who  have  brought 
him  up.  He  may  or  may  not  have  been  told  not 
to  kill  birds.  It's  altogether  too  easy  to  tell 
boys  not  to  do  things;  that's  why  so  many 
people  do  it.  It's  much  harder  to  give  them 
good  convincing  reasons,  and  then  offer  a  satis- 
factory substitute  for  the  thing  forbidden.  A 
healthy,  normal  boy  is  active  in  mind  and  body, 
and  he  must  have  an  outlet  for  both  kinds  of 
activity.  He'd  much  sooner  have  a  live  bird 
perched  on  his  hand  than  a  dead  one  in  his 
pocket,  but  unless  his  parents  or  guardians  will 
take  the  trouble  to  teach  him  how  to  get  the  live 
bird,  he'll  probably  take  a  gun  and  come  back 
with  a  dead  one.  Get  him  an  interesting  bird 
book  or  two  and  let  him  learn  something  about 
the  birds.  Take  him  to  an  illustrated  lecture 
on  birds  occasionally.  When  possible,  arrange 
to  have  him  meet  the  man  who  wrote  the  book 
and  the  man  who  gave  the  lecture;  it  will  give 
him  a  feeling  of  confidence  to  know  men  who  are 
interested  in  what  he  is  doing  or  wants  to  do  for 


266  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  birds.  Both  the  writer  and  the  lecturer  may 
be  far  too  busy  to  talk  to  a  man,  but  if  they're 
of  the  right  kind,  they'll  seldom  be  too  busy  to 
say  just  a  few  words  of  encouragement  to  a 
boy  or  to  answer  one  or  two  of  his  questions  if 
they  can.  But  there  is  nothing  like  active  work 
for  the  birds  to  give  the  boy  real  enthusiasm. 
Encourage  him  to  feed  the  birds,  to  give  them 
water,  and  to  put  up  nesting  boxes  for  them,  and 
when  the  birds  have  become  sufficiently  tame, 
let  him  photograph  them,  that  he  may  be  able 
to  show  the  results  of  his  good  work  and  thus 
encourage  others  to  do  similar  work.  If  there  is 
a  bird  club  in  town,  let  him  join  it;  if  there  isn't, 
organize  one,  or  better  still,  help  him  to  organize 
it. 

I  am  proud  to  say  that  I  have  many  friends 
among  the  boys,  and  most  of  them  are  loyal 
friends  of  the  birds  also.  One  of  them,  a  Boston 
lad  of  thirteen,  has  organized  two  •  bird  clubs, 
issues  a  monthly  paper  on  birds  and  the  care 
of  them,  and  recently  gave  a  talk  which  led  to 
the  establishment  of  a  bird  sanctuary.  Let  all 
grown-up  bird  lovers  remember  one  of  the  best 
things  Judge  Ben  Lindsey  ever  said:  "Who 
stands  in  the  presence  of  a  boy  whose  confidence 
he  has  gained,  stands  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
opportunity. " 


Problems  Confronting  Beginners     267 

And  there  are  few,  if  any,  of  these  remarks 
concerning  boys  which  do  not  apply  equally 
well  to  girls. 

A  Word  as  to  Scientists 

As  for  scientific  collectors,  the  writer  believes 
that  they  should  be  allowed  to  go  about  their 
work  unhampered  by  petty  restrictions.  Com- 
pared with  other  gunners  they  shoot  few  birds 
and  these  .alre  generally  made  good  use  of. 
The  complaint  that  scientific  men  do  not  do 
their  share  in  the  work  of  wild  life  conservation, 
is  generally  unfair.  It  is  usually  the  cry  of  some 
conservationist  who  wishes  he  were  scientific 
but  is  not,  who  wishes  to  attract  attention  to  his 
own  work  by  belittling  that  of  others,  or  who 
does  not  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  work  he 
himself  is  doing  is  based  largely  on  the  work  of 
the  scientist.  The  latter  during  years  of  patient 
research  has  worked  out  convincing  facts  which 
the  unscientific  conservationist  often  dashes  off 
in  a  few  conventional  sentences  without  half 
realizing  the  enormous  amount  of  effort  they 
represent.  For  example,  one  of  the  strongest 
arguments  in  favor  of  preserving  birds,  is  that 
they  have  great  economic  value ;  the  facts  which 
support  this  argument  have  been  ascertained, 
not  by  the  men  who  shout  them  from  the  house- 


268  Wild  Bird  Guests 

tops  but  by  quiet,  modest  ornithologists,  who  sit 
in  their  laboratories  and  whose  names  are  seldom 
seen  in  the  newspapers.  Other  men,  "on  the 
firing  line, "  do  wonderfully  effective  work  for  the 
cause  of  wild  life  conservation,  but  sometimes 
they  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  this  work  is 
made  possible,  not  so  much  by  the  noise  of  their 
own  big  guns,  as  by  the  ammunition  supplied  to 
them  by  the  scientific  men  who  work  without 
making  any  noise  at  all.  There  are  literally 
thousands  of  splendid  men  and  women  working 
for  the  protection  of  our  wild  birds  and  there 
will  soon  be  many  thousands  more,  and  they 
should  know  that  the  backbone  of  this  bird 
conservation  movement  is  made  up  chiefly  of  the 
scientific  members  of  the  American  Ornitholo- 
gists' Union,  some  of  whom  founded  the  original 
Audubon  Society,  and  who  by  patient,  unselfish 
toil  through  many  years  have  laid  the  foundation 
for  the  equally  important  but  far  more  spec- 
tacular work  being  done  by  others  who  are 
oftener  in  the  public  eye. 


CHAPTER  XII 

BIRD  CLUBS  AND  HOW  TO  ORGANIZE  THEM 

AND  now,  "gentle  reader/'  as  the  old-time 
ornithologists  would  have  put  it,  if  the  foregoing 
chapters  have  convinced  you  that  birds  need 
protection,  that  it  is  worth  our  while  to  give  it 
to  them,  and  that  there  are  ways  in  which  all  of 
us  can  help  to  give  it  to  them,  are  you  willing 
to  do  your  share, — to  do  your  duty  in  a  great 
campaign  in  which  the  help  of  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  is  needed?  Perhaps  you  are 
already  doing  it  along  the  lines  which  promise 
the  maximum  amount  of  good  to  be  realized 
from  your  efforts.  If  so,  I  will  simply  say,  "Go 
ahead,  and  good  luck  to  you/'  But  if  not,  let 
me  suggest  that  I  know  of  no  way  in  which  the 
average  person  can  be  so  helpful  to  the  cause  of 
bird  protection  as  through  membership  in  an 
active  local  bird  club.  Whether  it  is  desired  to 
help  in  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  local  birds, 
or  in  the  passage  of  a  great  federal  law  for  bird 

conservation,  you  will  be  in  a  stronger  position 

269 


270  Wild  Bird  Guests 

if  you  have  a  good  club  behind  you  than  you 
would  be  alone. 

It  is  the  writer's  belief  that  there  should  be  a 
bird  club  in  every  village,  town,  and  city  in  the 
country.  In  the  larger  cities,  perhaps,  there 
should  be  more  than  one,  and  these  might  unite 
in  providing  for  our  native  birds  in  the  public 
parks  and  gardens.  Similar  clubs  should  be 
started  in  colleges,  private  schools  and  acade- 
mies, and  where  possible  in  the  public  school  as 
well.  Such  a  club  was  started  a  few  years  ago 
at  Fay  School,  in  Southborough,  Massachusetts, 
and  the  result  has  been  most  interesting.  The 
boys  are  reorganized  at  the  beginning  of  each 
school  year,  and  they  do  enthusiastic,  faithful 
work  for  the  birds  not  only  while  at  school 
but  during  the  vacations.  The  writer  recently 
organized  a  similar  club  for  the  girls  at  Ferry 
Hall,  Lake  Forest,  Illinois.  If  each  school  will 
do  its  small  share,  in  ten  years  we  shall  have  a 
race  of  men  and  women  who  will  know  their 
duty  to  our  wild  birds  and  how  to  perform 
it. 

The  organization  of  a  school  bird  club  is  a 
very  simple  matter  and  may  safely  be  left  to 
any  enthusiastic  instructor.  If  the  latter  has 
had  no  experience,  however,  the  rest  of  this 
chapter,  devoted  to  the  organization  of  clubs  of 


Bird  Clubs  271 

somewhat  wider  scope,  may  contain  some  helpful 
suggestions. 

Some  readers  may  ask,  "Why  is  it  necessary 
to  organize  a  bird  club?  Why  cannot  each 
person  help  the  birds  as  much  as  he  or  she  likes 
without  going  to  the  trouble  of  calling  and  at- 
tending meetings,  and  to  the  expense  of  paying 
dues?"  I  would  say  that  just  as  the  United 
States  is  stronger  and  better  than  a  lot  of  sepa- 
rate and  independent  states  would  be,  so  in  a 
small  way  a  bird  club  is  stronger  and  better 
than  a  number  of  independent  bird  lovers.  No 
matter  how  hard  a  particular  person  in  a  town 
may  have  worked  for  the  birds,  when  he  joins  a 
bird  club  and  compares  notes  with  his  fellow- 
members  at  a  club  meeting,  he  is  sure  to  find 
that  some  of  them  have  good  ideas  or  suggestions 
which  had  not  occurred  to  him  and  which  he 
can  make  use  of,  while  he,  in  turn,  is  sure  to  have 
had  experiences  which  none  of  the  other  members 
have  had  and  which  they  will  be  very  glad  to 
profit  by.  In  this  way  each  member,  instead 
of  having  just  his  own  ideas  to  help  him,  will 
have  the  ideas  of  everybody  in  the  club.  Then, 
there  will  be  certain  desirable  things  like  the 
posting  of  land  against  gunners,  the  protecting 
of  property  against  fire,  the  establishment  of  a 
public  bird  sanctuary,  the  passing  of  a  law  or 


272  Wild  Bird  Guests 

ordinance  for  the  protection  of  the  birds,  or  the 
starting  of  bird  work  among  the  school-children, 
which  might  be  quite  difficult  for  an  individual 
to  do,  but  which  would  be  simple  enough  for  a 
club. 

Let  there  be  no  doubt  in  your  mind  about 
the  desirability  of  organizing  a  bird  club  in  your 
town  if  there  is  not  one  there  already.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  community  to  care  for  its  own 
birds,  and  it  will  be  difficult  indeed  to  perform 
this  duty  unless  the  citizens  organize  for  the 
purpose.  Who  should  start  the  ball  rolling? 
Why  you,  the  reader,  of  course,  and  I'm  going  to 
tell  you  exactly  how  to  do  it.  Don't  let  anyone 
dissuade  you  by  telling  you  how  hard  it  will  be 
or  that  you  can't  do  it.  You  can  do  it,  and 
it's  the  people  who  can  and  will  do  things  who 
really  count  in  the  world.  The  person  who  or- 
ganizes a  bird  club  in  his  or  her  own  town  or 
village  is  a  public  benefactor,  and  the  neigh- 
bors will  recognize  that  fact  sooner  or  later.  So 
start  as  soon  as  possible  and  make  up  your  mind 
to  succeed.  This  is  the  way  to  go  about  it: 

Call  on  some  of  your  friends  who  are  fond  of 
birds  and  tell  them  what  you  propose  to  do. 
The  more  intelligent  your  friends  are  the  more 
likely  they  are  to  encourage  and  help  you,  so 
go  to  the  most  intelligent  friends  you  have. 


Bird  Clubs  273 

Tell  them  that  you  are  about  to  organize  a 
local  bird  club  and  ask  their  kind  advice  and 
assistance.  Listen  carefully  to  all  advice  given 
by  older  people  or  by  those  who  have  had  more 
experience  than  you  have  had,  but  if  there  is  no 
bird  club  in  your  town  let  no  one  dissuade  you 
from  organizing  one.  You  have  a  great  opportu- 
nity; don't  let  it  pass. 

With  the  assistance  of  your  friends,  few  or 
many  as  the  case  may  be,  prepare  to  call  a 
meeting  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  the  club. 
Arrange  to  have  the  meeting  held  in  some 
convenient  place;  if  possible  one  likely  to  prove 
acceptable  to  almost  everybody  in  the  com- 
munity. If  you  have  a  town  hall,  that  may  be 
the  best  place;  the  public  library  may  have 
a  suitable  hall,  or  the  Board  of  Education  will 
probably  be  glad  to  allow  you  to  use  a  school 
assembly  room.  A  church  makes  a  very  satis- 
factory meeting  place  in  a  town  where  the  people 
are  broad-minded  and  where  a  large  number 
will  not  refuse  to  attend  simply  because  they 
don't  belong  to  that  church.  It  makes  little 
difference  where  the  meeting  is  held,  provided 
only  that  the  right  spirit  prevails.  For  example : 

The  Meriden  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club  was  or- 
ganized in  the  chapel  of  the  local  Academy; 
the  Alma  (Michigan)  Bird  Club,  in  the  High 

18 


274  Wild  Bird  Guests 

School  auditorium;  the  Hanover  (N.  H.)  Bird 
Club,  in  one  of  the  Dartmouth  College  buildings; 
the  Brush  Hill  Bird  Club  of  Milton,  Massachu- 
setts, in  a  private  house;  the  Walpole  (N.  H.) 
Bird  Club,  in  the  Public  Library;  the  Wyncote 
(Pa.)  Bird  Club,  in  a  church;  the  Rhinebeck, 
(N.  Y.)  Bird  Club  in  the  Town  Hall,  and  the 
Woodcrafters  Bird  Club  of  Culver,  Indiana,  was 
organized  out  of  doors  in  the  woods. 

Having  decided  on  the  place  of  meeting,  the 
next  thing  to  do  is  to  select  a  date  that  will  be 
satisfactory  to  most  of  the  people.  Care  should 
be  taken  not  to  conflict  with  regular  prayer 
meetings  or  more  than  necessary  with  enter- 
tainments likely  to  draw  heavily  on  the  peo- 
ple who  would  otherwise  probably  attend  your 
gathering.  The  date  should  be  set  far  enough 
in  advance  to  allow  for  advertising  and  to 
enable  people  with  many  engagements  to  ar- 
range to  come. 

The  next  thing  to  do  is  to  secure  one  or  more 
speakers  who  can  be  depended  upon  to  arouse 
enthusiasm  in  your  cause.  If  possible  arrange 
to  have  an  illustrated  lecture  by  some  man  who 
has  had  experience  with  bird  clubs  and  who 
can  show  by  means  of  lantern  slides  the  suc- 
cess and  pleasure  that  await  the  members  of  a 
club  organized  along  the  lines  you  will  suggest. 


Bird  Clubs  275 

That  will  win  half  your  battle  for  you.  Your 
state  ornithologist  may  be  just  the  man;  if  not, 
he  may  be  able  to  suggest  someone.  If  not, 
write  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Meriden  Bird  Club, 
at  Meriden,  New  Hampshire,  whose  business  it  is 
to  give  information  on  such  matters.  In  addition 
to  the  principal  speaker  you  should  have  one  or 
two  good  local  men  who  are  in  sympathy  with 
your  plans  and  in  whom  the  people  of  your  town 
have  confidence.  A  few  words  from  them, 
backing  you  up,  will  have  a  very  good  effect, 
showing  that  you  are  not  the  only  person  in  the 
town  who  desires  to  have  a  bird  club. 

Now  for  the  advertising  of  your  meeting,  and 
this  is  very  important.  No  matter  how  splendid 
a  message  you  may  have  for  the  people,  it  counts 
for  nothing  if  they  don't  hear  it.  A  notice  of 
the  meeting  and  its  purpose  should  be  posted 
in  several  conspicuous  places,  and  if  there  is  a 
local  paper  you  will  find  that  the  editor  will  be 
glad  to  help  you  by  printing  items  about  what 
you  propose  to  do.  Perhaps  he  will  go  as 
far  as  to  print  an  editorial,  setting  his  stamp 
of  approval  on  your  efforts.  In  these  public 
notices  be  sure  that  the  invitation  is  general. 
The  birds  belong  to  everybody,  and  everybody 
should  have  a  hand  in  protecting  them.  Here 
is  a  ground  where  everybody  in  your  town,  good 


276  Wild  Bird  Guests 

and  bad,  rich  and  poor,  Christian,  Pagan,  Gen- 
tile, and  Jew  may  meet  in  a  common  cause,  and 
if  you  can  get  them  to  do  it,  it  will  not  only 
help  to  make  your  bird  club  a  success,  but  it  will 
make  for  friendly  feeling  throughout  the  town. 

There  will  be  a  few  busy  people  whom  it  will 
be  especially  desirable  to  have  present — people 
who  by  reason  of  their  standing  can  greatly 
help  you  if  they  will.  Among  these  may  be  the 
Superintendent  of  Schools  and  the  teachers, 
the  ministers,  the  lawyers,  the  doctors,  and 
other  professional  people,  all  of  whom  should 
gladly  aid  so  great  a  cause.  It  is  worth  while 
to  make  a  special  effort  to  have  those  people 
present  and  if  possible  a  special  invitation  should 
be  sent  to  each  one  of  them,  asking  them  to 
kindly  make  a  point  of  coming. 

Before  the  day  set  for  the  meeting,  consult  the 
principal  bird  lovers  and  prepare  a  "slate"  of 
the  people  whom  it  is  desirable  to  have  for 
officers  of  the  proposed  club ;  it  is  much  easier  to 
do  this  at  your  leisure  beforehand  than  to  wait 
until  the  meeting  is  on  and  then  try  to  think 
of  suitable  officers  in  a  hurry.  All  other  things 
being  equal,  try  to  have  both  men  and  women 
represented  on  your  slate.  Be  sure  to  select 
people  who  have,  in  addition  to  an  interest  in 
birds,  the  ability  and  enthusiasm  necessary  to 


Bird  Clubs  277 

carry  the  work  of  the  club  along  in  spite  of  the 
little  obstacles  and  discouragements  which  are 
sure  to  arise.  The  list  should  be  presented  at 
the  proper  time  by  some  responsible  person. 

You  will  need  a  chairman.  Perhaps  you  can 
take  the  chair  yourself;  if  not,  perhaps  the 
lecturer  will  act  at  the  close  of  his  address.  At 
any  rate  the  chairman  should  be  a  business- 
like person  who  understands  your  plan  and  is 
thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  it.  He  will  explain 
in  a  general  way  the  purpose  of  the  meeting, 
and  then  call  upon  the  other  speakers  in  turn. 
After  that  the  audience  should  be  given  an 
opportunity  to  ask  questions  and  discuss  them 
briefly,  and  then  it  will  be  well  to  proceed  to  the 
election  of  officers.  In  addition  to  these  there 
should  be  a  committee  on  constitution.  The 
members  of  this  may  be  either  elected  by  those 
present  or  appointed  by  the  president.  In  any 
case  it  should  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to 
draw  up  a  constitution  to  be  presented  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  club.  At  the  end  of  this 
chapter  will  be  found  the  constitutions  of  two 
successful  bird  clubs ;  from  one  or  both  of  these 
your  committee  may  at  least  get  some  sugges- 
tions. The  first  one  given,  modified  to  suit 
local  conditions,  is  already  being  used  by  a  great 
many  bird  clubs. 


278  Wild  Bird  Guests 

A  word  as  to  dues.  You  will  see  in  the 
sample  constitutions  that  the  dues  for  active 
membership  are  made  quite  low.  You  will 
find  it  a  good  plan  to  have  the  dues  for  at  least 
one  form  of  membership  made  very  low  in  order 
that  no  one  may  be  barred  from  your  club 
because  he  can't  afford  to  belong  to  it.  By 
having  other  forms  of  membership  with  com- 
paratively larger  dues,  you  give  generous  people 
with  plenty  of  money  an  opportunity  to  befriend 
the  club  to  almost  any  extent.  Be  sure  to 
have  a  junior  membership  for  the  children. 

It  makes  little  difference  what  time  of  year  a 
bird  club  is  organized;  there  is  always  plenty  of 
work  to  be  done  for  the  birds.  In  the  spring 
there  are  bird  houses  to  put  up,  bird  baths  to 
get  ready,  and  the  planting  of  crops  and  of  trees 
and  shrubs  and  creepers  which  are  attractive 
to  birds.  In  the  summer,  there  .are  bird  baths 
to  put  out  and  bird  houses  to  make;  in  the 
fall,  more  bird  houses  to  put  out  and  prepara- 
tions to  be  made  for  winter  feeding;  while  in 
winter  the  work  of  feeding  the  birds  alone 
will  afford  plenty  of  activity  for  the  club  and 
its  members.  The  details  of  such  work  are 
given  in  other  parts  of  this  book.  In  addition  to 
this  active  work  for  the  birds,  all  sorts  of  things 
may  be  done  to  interest  the  members,  to  promote 


Bird  Clubs  279 

the  study  of  birds  and  advance  the  cause  of  bird 
protection. 

Many  of  the  boys  and  girls  are  sure  to  wish  to 
make  nest  boxes  and  food  houses,  and  in  some 
cases  the  club  will  be  able  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  Cornfield  Bird  Club  of  Cornish,  N.  H., 
and  employ  a  manual  training  teacher.  But 
unless  this  teacher  has  a  first-hand  knowledge 
of  birds  he  should  not  be  asked  to  furnish  the 
designs  for  these  appliances;  he  should  be  re- 
quired merely  to  superintend  the  manufacture 
of  them  from  plans  obtained  by  some  author- 
ity on  the  subject.  This  is  very  important, 
as  improperly  constructed  nest  boxes  and  food 
shelters  are  often  worse  than  none,  for  they  fail 
to  attract  the  birds  and  thus  disappoint  and 
discourage  people  who  might  otherwise  become 
bird  protectors.  The  Charlestown  (N.  H.)  Bird 
Club  does  not  employ  a  teacher  but  distributes 
among  its  members  cardboard  patterns  from 
which  nest  boxes  may  be  made. 

The  Walpole  Bird  Club  of  Walpole,  N.  H., 
has  had  great  success  with  what  it  calls  "Bird 
Socials."  These  are  generally  held  in  the  fall 
and  winter  months  and  the  junior  members  are 
invited  to  meet  in  some  suitable  hall  or  large 
room  under  the  leadership  of  older  members. 
The  entertainment  takes  various  forms.  Some- 


280  Wild  Bird  Guests 

times  there  is  a  contest  to  see  who  can  iden- 
tify the  greatest  number  of  birds  from  colored 
pictures  held  up  one  at  a  time.  The  young 
people  are  provided  with  pencils  and  paper  and 
without  consulting  one  another  write  down  the 
names  of  the  birds  as  they  are  shown.  At  other 
times  the  juniors  are  given  instructions  in  ty- 
ing suet  to  branches  brought  to  the  meeting  on 
purpose,  and  then  after  experimenting  indoors 
every  member  is  provided  with  a  generous  lump 
of  suet  and  some  string  and  the  whole  party 
goes  out  doors  to  put  into  practice  what  they 
have  learned. 

The  Brookline  (Mass.)  Bird  Club  has  a  paid 
instructor  who  helps  the  members  to  plan  all 
sorts  of  activities  and  at  different  times  escorts 
the  children  and  adult  members  on  bird  walks 
and  aids  them  in  identifying  birds  with  which 
they  are  not  familiar.  The  Brush  Hill  Bird 
Club  of  Milton,  Mass.,  distinguished  itself  some 
time  ago  by  holding  an  exhibition  of  nest  boxes, 
food  houses,  bird  baths,  and  other  similar 
appliances  and  the  Arnold  Arboretum  coop- 
erated by  loaning  a  collection  of  shrubs,  creepers, 
and  other  plants  which  are  especially  attractive 
to  birds. 

The  Claremont  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club  has  been 
interested  in  outlining  a  graded  course  of  bird 


Bird  Clubs  281 

study  which  has  been  adopted  by  the  local 
public  schools. 

The  Meriden  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club,  of  which 
the  author  is  General  Manager,  has  many 
activities.  First  of  all  it  is  active  in  the  organi- 
zation of  other  bird  clubs,  and  is  responsible, 
for  the  existence  of  scores  of  such  clubs  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country.  It  has  members 
scattered  over  about  thirty  different  states  and 
to  each  member  is  sent  every  year  a  beauti- 
fully illustrated  report  telling  what  the  club 
has  been  doing,  and  giving  instructions  for  the 
carrying  on  of  similar  work  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  Then,  the  Meriden  Bird  Club  has 
an  old  farm  of  thirty-two  acres,  the  gift  of  Helen 
Woodruff  Smith,  which  it  has  converted  into 
a  bird  sanctuary.  Here  all  native  birds  are 
provided  with  food  in  winter,  with  water  in  sum- 
mer, and  with  many  nesting  boxes  at  all  sea- 
sons. It  was  for  the  dedication  of  this  preserve 
that  Percy  Mackaye  wrote  his  famous  Bird 
Masque  Sanctuary  which  has  since  been  played 
before  many  bird  clubs,  and  which  has  already 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  several  bird 
sanctuaries. 

And  speaking  of  bird  sanctuaries,  the  writer 
believes  that  it  is  a  matter  of  much  importance 
that  great  numbers  of  these  be  established  all 


282  Wild  Bird  Guests 

over  the  country.  He  thinks  it  might  be  well 
for  practically  every  bird  club  to  include  among 
its  objects,  "the  establishment  of  a  bird  sanctu- 
ary." It  would  not  be  necessary  in  every  case 
to  spend  a  lot  of  money  for  special  devices  to 
attract  the  birds;  the  main  thing  would  be  to 
secure  a  piece  of  property,  large  or  small  as  the 
case  might  be,  which  should  be  set  aside  as  a 
refuge;  a  place  where  birds  would  be  safe  from 
all  their  enemies,  man  included.  Care  should  be 
taken,  when  possible,  to  select  a  piece  of  land 
attractive  to  a  large  variety  of  birds.  An  al- 
most ideal  place  would  contain  some  old  forest 
with  both  evergreen  and  deciduous  trees  and 
plenty  of  undergrowth;  some  old  pasture  land 
overgrown  with  tangles  of  berry-bearing  shrubs 
and  creepers;  a  grassy  meadow,  an  old  orchard, 
a  patch  of  swamp,  a  pond,  and  a  good-sized 
stream.  It  would  seldom  be  possible  to  get 
all  these  features  on  one  place,  but  it  would 
often  be  possible  to  get  several  of  them.  If 
nest  boxes  and  other  devices  could  be  supplied 
later,  so  much  the  better,  but  the  mere  posting 
of  it,  and  the  freeing  of  it  from  bird  enemies 
would  be  a  fine  thing  for  the  local  birds  and 
would  tend  to  give  permanent  value  to  the  club. 
Then,  of  course,  private  individuals,  whenever 
practicable,  should  make  sanctuaries  of  their 


Bird  Clubs  283 

own  estates.  This  has  already  been  done  in 
many  places.  One  of  the  most  successful  is 
that  of  Mr.  Frederick  C.  Walcott,  at  Norfolk, 
Connecticut.  Here  is  a  four  thousand-acre  tract 
of  typical  New  England  country,  with  four  ponds 
— two  natural  and  two  artificial  ones — dedicated 
to  the  cause  of  bird  protection  only  three  years 
ago  at  this  writing  and  now  literally  alive  with 
birds  at  certain  seasons.  Not  only  the  land 
birds  but  the  waterfowl  also  have  found  it  a 
haven  of  refuge.  To  use  a  bit  of  Mr.  Walcott's 
own  description :—  "  Between  two  and  three  thou- 
sand black  ducks  drop  into  the  home  pond  each 
fall  and  remain  until  late  December  before  go- 
ing farther  south ;  and  each  fall  and  spring,  from 
forty  to  fifty  wild  Canada  geese  stay  with  our 
geese  several  days,  for  food."  A  further  de- 
scription of  this  and  other  more  or  less  similar 
sanctuaries  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Walcott's 
chapter  on  "Private  Game  Preserves"  in  Dr. 
William  T.  Hornaday's  book,  Wild  Life  Con- 
servation in  Theory  and  Practice. 

The  following  letter  from  John  B.  Burnham, 
President  of  the  American  Game  Protective  and 
Propagation  Association,  is  very  valuable  as 
showing  how  a  state  legislature  has  set  an  ex- 
ample in  making  easy  the  establishment  of  bird 
sanctuaries. 


284  Wild  Bird  Guests 

"  DEAR  MR.  BAYNES: 

"  Legislation  has  been  enacted  in  the  State  of 
New  York  giving  bird  protectionists  a  splendid 
framework  upon  which  to  act  for  the  creation 
of  bird  sanctuaries.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
principles  embodied  in  this  legislation  might 
well  be  copied  in  other  states  because  there 
are  altogether  too  few  states  in  the  country  to- 
day where  the  plan  has  received  legislative 
sanction. 

"The  new  law  permits  the  Conservation  Com- 
mission to  set  aside  any  lands  owned  by  the 
state,  outside  of  the  Adirondack  and  Catskill 
parks,  as  sanctuaries.  It  also  empowers  the 
Commission  to  purchase  lands  or  the  shooting 
and  fishing  rights  for  the  purpose  of  creating 
sanctuaries  and  it  puts  such  lands  under  the 
protection  of  the  Conservation  Commission. 

"Another  section  of  the  Conservation  Law, 
amended  to  its  present  form  in  1913,  provides 
for  the  creation  of  sanctuaries  where  private 
individuals  desire  to  dedicate  their  lands  for 
such  a  purpose  and  in  this  instance  also  the 
obligation  to  protect  the  land  against  trespass 
by  law  violators  is  placed  upon  the  Conserva- 
tion Commission. 

"  By  the  enactment  of  these  laws  it  will  be 
seen  that  provision  is  made  for  the  establish- 


Bird  Clubs  285 

ment  of  sanctuaries  in  a  flexible  and  compre- 
hensive way.  The  sanctuaries  are  intended 
for  both  game  and  game  bird  protection  and 
also  for  the  protection  of  song  and  insectivor- 
ous birds.  In  its  practical  application  from 
the  latter  standpoint,  splendid  opportunities  are 
open  to  individuals  and  bird  clubs  all  over  the 
state  to  secure  the  needed  protection  for  their 
feathered  friends.  The  state  has  many  old 
farms  as  its  property  scattered  in  almost  every 
county.  A  list  of  these  is  published  by  the 
State  Comptroller  in  book  form.  These  lands 
were  acquired  by  tax  sale,  escheat,  by  fore- 
closure of  mortgage,  given  by  the  United  States 
Loan  Commissioners,  and  in  other  ways. 

"  Suppose  there  was  a  bird  club  located  in  the 
town  of  Hillsdale,  Columbia  County.  By  con- 
sulting the  Comptroller's  list,  they  would  find 
that  the  state  owned  the  old  Dutcher  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  that  town, 
and  running  parallel  into  the  town  of  Austerlitz. 
The  club  would  appoint  a  committee  to  investi- 
gate the  farm  from  the  standpoint  of  its  availa- 
bility for  a  bird  sanctuary.  Armed  with  the 
facts  they  could  send  a  concise  description  of  the 
property  to  the  Conservation  Commission  with 
the  request  that  it  be  dedicated  as  a  sanctu- 
ary under  the  provisions  of  Section  366  of 


286  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  Conservation  Law.  The  Commission  would 
then  pass  upon  the  petition  and  I  have  no  doubt 
give  it  favorable  attention  and  probably  set 
it  aside  as  a  bird  and  game  refuge  and  post  it 
against  all  shooting  and  put  it  in  charge  of 
the  nearest  state  game  protector  to  see  that 
there  was  no  poaching  or  trespassing  upon  the 
property. 

"  It  would  then  be  up  to  the  bird  club  to  see 
that  the  tract  was  made  a  really  effective  sanctu- 
ary. From  their  funds  they  could  provide  for 
the  proper  care  of  the  tract  and  I  am  sure  that 
the  Conservation  Commission  would  be  glad  to 
give  them  the  necessary  privileges.  Bird  boxes 
could  be  erected  for  nesting  places  and  feeding 
stations  installed  for  the  winter  care  of  the  birds 
and  arrangements  made  for  discouraging  the 
attacks  of  cats  or  other  predatory  animals  and 
birds. 

"  I  see  on  reading  over  the  section  that  no 
provision  has  been  made  for  trapping  vermin 
in  this  section.  The  law  should  be  amended 
to  give  this  privilege  under  proper  regulations. 

"While  such  tracts  are  available  in  many 
sections  of  the  state,  there  are  places,  of  course, 
having  bird  clubs,  where  state  land  is  not  avail- 
able. Here  two  methods  for  securing  sanctu- 
aries are  possible  under  the  existing  law.  By  one 


Bird  Clubs  287 

of  these  the  commission  may  be  petitioned  to 
buy  a  certain  tract  or  to  buy  the  shooting  and 
fishing  rights  on  the  tract.  This,  of  course, 
would  require  an  appropriation  by  the  legislature 
and  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  bird  club,  first, 
to  secure  the  approval  of  the  Commission  for 
the  project  and  then  from  a  practical  standpoint 
to  follow  it  up  by  appearing  before  the  proper 
legislative  committees. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  very  simple  matter 
to  find  some  landowner  who  is  willing  to  dedicate 
his  private  land  for  the  purpose  of  a  sanctuary. 
To  secure  a  legal  dedication  of  this  land  it  is 
necessary,  under  Section  153  of  the  Conserva- 
tion Law,  to  procure  from  the  Conservation 
Commission,  two  blanks  which  have  been 
printed  for  this  purpose.  One  of  these,  known 
as  Form  36,  is  headed  'Dedication  of  Land  for 
Game  and  Bird  Refuge.'  This  is  in  the  form 
of  a  petition  to  the  town  board  of  the  town  in 
which  the  land  is  located.  It  contains  a  simple 
description  of  the  land,  with  the  request  that  it 
be  set  aside  by  the  Conservation  Commission 
for  a  game  and  bird  refuge  for  a  period  not 
exceeding  ten  years.  Of  course,  the  dedication 
can  be  renewed  at  the  expiration  of  this  period. 
The  petition  is  signed  by  the  owner  of  the  land. 

"The  other  form  is  Form  37,  and  is  headed 


288  Wild  Bird  Guests 

'Resolution  for  Game  and  Bird  Refuge/  This 
resolution  is  a  request  by  a  majority  of  the  town 
board  to  set  aside  the  land  specified  in  the 
original  petition  as  ^  game  and  bird  refuge.  It 
can  either  be  passed  at  a  meeting  of  the  town 
board  or  signed  by  a  majority  of  the  board,  which 
includes  the  supervisor,  two  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  the  town  clerk.  There  has  never,  so  far  as 
the  writer's  experience  goes,  been  any  difficulty 
in  securing  the  signatures  of  a  majority  of  the 
town  board  to  such  a  petition  and  the  method 
has  the  practical  advantage  of  enlisting  the  town 
officers  in  the  sanctuary  project.  After  Form 
37  is  signed  it  is  sent  to  the  Conservation  Com- 
mission for  ratification  and  the  petitioners  may 
feel  certain  that  it  will  be  favorably  acted  upon. 

"Under  these  various  provisions  of  the  New 
York  Law  there  is  not  a  town  in  the  state  of 
New  York  which  cannot  have  its  bird  sanctu- 
ary. All  that  is  necessary  is  a  little  educational 
work  to  arouse  interest,  the  formation  of  a  club 
to  insure  the  proper  care  of  the  sanctuary  and 
afterwards  faithfully  sustained  work.  The  re- 
ward will  be,  to  the  workers,  knowledge  of  work 
well  done,  and  to  the  community  a  marked 
increase  in  the  number  of  birds,  with  the  re- 
sult and  effect  of  better  crops  on  farms  and  in 
gardens,  fewer  diseased  and  dead  trees  in  the 


Bird  Clubs  289 

woodlands,  and  greater  productiveness  of  apple 
orchards  as  well  as  the  joy  which  comes  from 
the  beauty  of  color  and  form  and  song  of  the 
birds. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  (Signed)  JOHN  B.  BURNHAM, 
"President." 

That  the  state  of  Minnesota  is  alive  to  the 
importance  of  this  work  is  evidenced  by  the  cre- 
ation of  the  Minnetonka  Game  Refuge,  where 
the  birds  are  absolutely  protected  on  a  tract  of 
over  SS>°°°  acres  adjacent  to  the  city  of  Minne- 
apolis. 

Federal  sanctuaries  are  also  of  the  utmost 
importance  and  no  one  appreciated  this  fact 
more  strongly  than  President  Roosevelt,  who 
during  his  administration,  turned  from  other 
important  matters  long  enough  to  create  over 
fifty  national  refuges  for  wild  birds. 

But  to  return  to  New  Hampshire.  Other 
activities  of  the  Meriden  Bird  Club  consist 
in  the  placing  of  bird  charts  in  the  local  schools, 
in  the  Academy,  and  in  the  summer  hotel;  in 
starting  a  library  of  bird  books;  in  conducting 
a  column  of  bird  notes  in  the  local  paper;  in 
offering  prizes  for  the  best  essays  on  methods  of 
attracting  birds,  and  for  photographs  illustrating 


10 


290  Wild  Bird  Guests 

the  methods.  This  club  also  conducts  debates 
on  such  subjects  as,  "Resolved,  that  the  insect- 
eating  birds  are  more  beneficial  than  the  seed- 
eating  birds,"  and  "Resolved,  that  the  birds 
of  prey  are  more  beneficial  than  the  insect- 
eating  birds/'  and  "  Resolved,  that  the  seed- 
eating  birds  are  more  beneficial  than  the  birds 
of  prey."  The  debating  of  these  and  similar 
subjects  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
cause  of  bird  protection. 

I  know  of  no  better  or  stronger  way  to  present 
the  facts  to  the  farmers,  than  to  have  these 
interesting  and  vital  questions  debated  in  the 
schools  and  academies  where  the  farmers  may 
come  to  hear.  There  are  thousands  of  people 
who  may  not  care  to  read  a  pile  of  government 
reports  who  will  gladly  sit  for  an  hour  and  wit- 
ness a  live  contest  between  young  people  whom 
they  know,  and  who  have  the  gist  of  those 
reports  at  their  fingers'  ends  and  can  present 
it  in  a  concise,  interesting,  and  effective  manner. 
It  is  the  writer's  opinion  that  the  debating  of 
these  subjects  should  be  encouraged  in  every 
grammar  school,  high  school,  academy,  and 
private  school  in  the  country,  and  that  if  in- 
terscholastic  debates  could  be  brought  about,  so 
much  the  better.  No  end  of  material  for  such 
debates  has  been  collected  in  recent  years,  and  is 


Bird  Clubs  291 

available  in  the  form  of  bulletins  issued  by  the 
federal  and  state  departments  of  agriculture, 
respectively,  leaflets  published  by  the  Audubon 
Societies  and  books  written  by  specialists. 

A  very  important  piece  of  work  recently 
suggested  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Henshaw,  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Biological  Survey  at  Washington, 
should  also  interest  all  bird  clubs  looking  for 
new  outlets  for  their  enthusiasm.  It  consists 
of  making  bird  censuses  during  the  nesting 
season,  in  order  to  find  out  how  many  pairs  of 
the  different  species  of  birds  breed  within  defi- 
nite areas.  Mr.  Henshaw  suggests  three  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  censuses.  To  make  the  first 
and  most  important,  which  we  will  call  Census 
A,  it  is  suggested  that  you  select  an  area  not 
less  than  forty  acres  and  not  more  than  eighty 
acres,  representing  fairly  average  farm  condi- 
tions, including  farm  buildings,  shade  trees, 
orchards,  plowed  land,  and  pasture  or  meadow, 
but  without  woodland.  The  second  census, 
which  we  will  refer  to  as  B,  would  be  made  on  an 
isolated  piece  of  woodland  ten  to  twenty  acres 
in  extent,  situated  conveniently  near  the  first 
tract,  and  the  third  census  desired,  which  we 
will  call  C,  is  that  of  some  definite  area  of  wood- 
land, forty  acres  perhaps,  forming  part  of  a 
much  larger  tract  of  timber,  either  deciduous 


292  Wild  Bird  Guests 

or  evergreen.  Each  area  should  be  selected  with 
a  view  to  making  a  yearly  census  of  it  and  for 
that  reason  it  would  be  best  to  select  an  area  not 
likely  to  change  very  much  for  several  years 
at  least.  Otherwise,  when  there  were  found  to 
be  changes  in  the  bird  population,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  tell  if  these  changes  were  due  to  an 
increase  or  decrease  in  the  number  of  birds  or 
simply  to  changed  conditions  in  that  particular 
neighborhood. 

The  height  of  the  breeding  season  is  the  time  to 
make  these  bird  censuses,  because  the  spring 
migration  is  over,  the  fall  migration  has  not 
begun,  so  that  the  birds  which  you  see  in  any 
locality  are  all  likely  to  be  birds  which  belong 
to  that  locality  and  which  have  their  homes 
there.  At  Washington,  D.  C.,  latitude  39 
degrees,  the  3Oth  of  May  is  about  the  time  to 
begin;  farther  south  one  should  begin  a  little 
earlier,  and  farther  north  somewhat  later  of 
course.  In  the  latitude  of  Boston,  the  yth  or  8th 
of  June  would  be  about  right,  while  in  Maine 
the  middle  of  that  month  would  be  early  enough. 

The  plan  recommended  by  Mr.  Henshaw  and 
which  has  proved  very  successful  for  several 
years,  is  to  begin  at  daylight  and  zig-zag  back 
and  forth  across  the  whole  area,  counting  the 
male  birds,  which  at  this  hour  and  season  should 


Bird  Clubs  293 

be  in  full  song  and  easily  observed.  After  the 
birds  have  settled  in  their  summer  quarters,  each 
adult  male  may  safely  be  taken  to  represent 
a  breeding  pair.  No  bird  should  be  counted 
unless  he  is  actually  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  area,  no  matter  how  near  the  boundary  he 
may  be.  The  census  of  the  first  day  should  not 
be  taken  as  final.  It  should  be  checked  by 
several  days  of  further  observation  to  make  sure 
that  each  bird  counted  was  actually  nesting 
within  the  area,  and  also  to  make  sure  that 
no  species  has  been  overlooked.  The  census 
should  be  sent  to  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Biological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C.,  about 
the  3Oth  of  June,  and  with  it  should  go  such  a 
careful  statement  of  the  exact  boundaries  of  the 
area  selected  that  it  would  be  possible  twenty- 
five  years  hence  to  go  right  to  the  place,  cover 
exactly  the  same  ground,  and  repeat  the  census. 
The  name  and  address  of  the  owner  of  the 
property  should  also  be  given  in  every  instance. 
In  the  case  of  Census  A,  the  observer  should 
send,  in  addition,  a  careful  description  of  the 
character  of  the  land,  tell  whether  the  area  is 
dry  upland  or  swampy  bottom  land.  He  should 
give  the  number  of  acres  in  each  of  the  principal 
crops, — in  permanent  meadow,  pasture,  orchard, 
swamp,  and  road  and  whether  there  are  streams 


294  Wild  Bird  Guests 

or  ponds  on  the  place.  He  should  also  tell 
the  kinds  of  fencing  used,  and  whether  there  is 
much  or  little  brush  along  the  fences,  roads,  or 
streams,  or  in  the  permanent  pasture. 

In  making  Census  B  or  C,  the  person  making 
it  should,  in  addition  to  giving  the  size  and 
exact  boundaries  of  the  wooded  tract,  name 
the  principal  kinds  of  trees  and  state  whether 
there  is  much  or  little  undergrowth. 

The  making  of  one  or  more  such  censuses  will 
not  only  be  a  very  interesting  and  helpful  bit 
of  work  for  the  person  making  it,  but  will  furnish 
definite  information  concerning  the  bird  life  of 
the  region,  and  give  a  basis  for  comparison 
when  in  future  years  the  Government  wishes  to 
find  out  whether  the  laws  made  for  the  protec- 
tion of  birds  are  effective  or  not. 

And  before  saying  farewell  to  this  subject,  I 
must  mention  still  another  bird  census  which 
every  bird  club  in  the  country  should  take  part 
in.  Several  years  ago  Mr.  Frank  M.  Chapman, 
editor  of  that  splendid  little  magazine,  Bird 
Lore,  started  a  winter  bird  census  to  be  taken  on 
Christmas  Day  with  a  view  to  showing  in  a 
general  way  how  the  birds  are  distributed  at  this 
season.  This  is  a  very  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive census;  it  not  only  gives  a  very  good  idea  of 
the  comparative  abundance  of  the  permanent 


Bird  Clubs  295 

residents  and  regular  winter  visitants  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  but  forms  a  record  of  those 
occasional  flights  of  crossbills,  redpolls,  pine 
grosbeaks,  and  other  birds  which  in  many  places 
are  seen  but  once  in  several  years.  The  plan 
adopted  in  taking  this  census  is  very  simple. 
It  consists  of  going  out  for  a  walk  at  any  time  on 
Christmas  Day,  and  jotting  down  in  a  note-book 
the  kinds  of  birds  we  have  seen  and  the  number 
of  individuals  of  each  kind.  We  should  also 
jot  down  the  time  we  started,  the  time  we  re- 
turned, whether  the  day  was  clear,  cloudy,  or 
snowy,  the  direction  and  strength  of  the  wind, 
and  the  temperature.  We  should  write  the  cen- 
sus very  plainly  and  mail  it  that  very  night, 
if  possible,  to  the  Editor  of  Bird  Lore,  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York  City. 
As  there  will  be  scores  of  other  bird  students 
sending  in  lists,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  not  to 
overburden  the  busy  editor,  to  make  out  our 
list  exactly  as  he  asks  us  to.  Then  it  can  be 
published  in  the  next  issue  of  Bird  Lore  just  as 
we  send  it  in.  A  census  from  my  own  village, 
for  instance,  should  read  about  like  this: 

Meriden,  N.  H. 

Time,  8.30  A.M.  to  12.45   P.M.     Clear;  wind, 
northwest,  very  light;  temperature,  15  degrees. 


296  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Screech  owl,  i;  hairy  woodpecker,  2;  downy 
woodpecker,  i;  blue  jay,  8;  redpolls,  100;  white- 
breasted  nuthatch,  3;  chickadee,  10;  golden- 
crowned  kinglet,  4.  Total,  9  species,  134 
individuals. 

ERNEST  L.  HUSE. 

No  doubt  many  other  lines  of  activity  will 
occur  to  you  and  your  fellow  members  from  time 
to  time,  but  perhaps  I  have  given  enough  sug- 
gestions to  show  that  there  is  plenty  of  interest- 
ing and  much-needed  work  for  every  bird  club 
that  wishes  to  do  its  share  in  the  world-wide 
campaign  for  the  protection  of  birds. 

As  your  interest  grows  you  will  wish  to  know 
what  is  being  done  by  other  organizations  work- 
ing along  similar  lines.  Get  in  touch  with  the 
Meriden  Bird  Club  at  Meriden,  N.  H.,  which 
started  the  bird-club  movement  on  the  lines 
suggested  above.  It  publishes  a  beautifully 
illustrated  annual  report  giving  the  results  of 
all  sorts  of  interesting  experiments  in  feeding 
birds  and  providing  homes  for  them. 

If  you  are  especially  interested  in  game-bird 
protection,  write  to  the  American  Game  Pro- 
tective and  Propagation  Association,  which  has 
headquarters  at  233  Broadway,  New  York. 

If  you  have  a  State  Audubon  Society,  look  it 


Bird  Clubs  297 

up  and  encourage  it  in  any  way  you  can.  Make 
yourself  familiar  with  the  splendid  work  being 
done  by  the  National  Association  of  Audubon 
Societies  whose  office  is  at  1794  Broadway, 
New  York.  This  organization,  besides  protect- 
ing the  birds  directly,  is  helping  to  educate  the 
coming  generation  to  a  sense  of  its  duty  towards 
feathered  creatures  generally.  The  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  and  the  New  York 
Zoological  Society,  both  of  New  York,  are  con- 
ducting equally  noble  campaigns  of  education, 
each  along  its  own  interesting  and  effective  lines. 
These  and  many  others  are  worthy  of  the  best 
support  which  we  can  give  them. 

So  many  people  ask  where  they  may  obtain 
current  information  concerning  matters  pertain- 
ing to  bird  protection,  that  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  mention  the  fact  that  the  Bureau  of 
Biological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C.,  publishes 
each  year  a  pamphlet  called  Directory  of 
Officials  and  Organizations  Concerned  with  the 
Protection  of  Birds  and  Game.  This  may 
be  obtained  free  by  writing  to  the  Chief  of  the 
Bureau,  and  every  bird  club  should  have  at 
least  one  copy  for  the  use  of  its  members.  To 
keep  in  touch  with  the  principal  organizations 
listed  here  may  be  of  mutual  advantage.  They 
can  easily  supply  you  with  information  which 


298  Wild  Bird  Guests 

might  otherwise  be  hard  for  you  to  get,  and  you, 
in  turn,  can  help  them  when  they  need  support 
for  good  bills  which  they  may  be  trying  to  have 
passed  for  the  protection  of  birds.  Law-makers 
will  usually  make  laws  if  they  are  sure  that 
enough  people  really  want  them,  and  if  we  want 
them  we  should  let  the  law-makers  know  it. 

In  parting,  the  author  hopes  to  be  forgiven  for 
his  insistence  if  he  urges  the  reader  once  more  in 
the  interest  of  American  wild  bird  protection,  to 
organize  a  bird  club.  ORGANIZE  A  BIRD 
CLUB! 

"Gentles,  if  you  have  followed  me, 
Now  is  no  need  to  say  good-bye; 
For  we  shall  meet  in  revery 
Wherever  glad  birds  sing  and  fly — 
Wherever  sad  birds  bleed  and  dumbly  die." 

MACKAYE. 


APPENDIX 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  MERIDEN  (N.  H.)  BIRD 

CLUB 

ARTICLE  I 

NAME 

The  name  of  this  organization  shall  be  The 
Meriden  Bird  Club. 

ARTICLE  II 
OBJECTS 

The  objects  of  this  Club  shall  be  the  increase 
and  protection  of  our  local  wild  birds,  the  stimu- 
lation of  interest  in  bird  life,  and  the  gradual 
establishment  of  a  model  bird  sanctuary. 

ARTICLE  III 
MEMBERSHIP 

SEC.  i.  The  membership  of  this  Club  shall 
consist  of  Associate  Members,  Active  Members, 
Junior  Members,  Life  Members,  Patrons,  and 
Benefactors. 

299 


300  Wild  Bird  Guests 

SEC.  2.  Any  person  in  sympathy  with  the 
objects  of  this  Club,  whether  a  resident  of  the 
town  or  not,  may  become  an  Associate  Member 
by  paying  the  prescribed  dues. 

SEC.  3.  Any  resident  of  the  town  of  Plainfield 
may  become  an  Active  Member  of  this  Club  on 
election  by  the  Executive  Committee  and  pay- 
ment of  the  prescribed  dues. 

SEC.  4.  Any  child  under  fourteen  years  of 
age  may  become  a  Junior  Member  of  this  Club 
by  payment  of  ten  cents. 

SEC.  5.  Any  person  in  sympathy  with  the 
objects  of  this  Club  may  become  a  Life  Member, 
Patron,  or  Benefactor  upon  payment  of  the 
prescribed  fee  and  upon  election  by  the  Execu- 
tive Committee. 

SEC.  6.  The  dues  of  an  Associate  Member 
shall  be  one  dollar,  payable  annually.  The  dues 
of  an  Active  Member  shall  be  fifty  cents,  pay- 
able annually.  The  fee  of  a  Life  Member  shall 
be  twenty-five  dollars,  payable  at  one  time.  The 
fee  of  a  Patron  shall  be  one  hundred  dollars 
payable  at  one  time.  The  fee  of  a  Benefactor 
shall  be  one  thousand  dollars. 

Sec.  7.  The  voting  power  shall  be  limited  to 
Active  Members. 

SEC.  8.  A  member  may  be  expelled  from  the 
Club  upon  the  written  recommendation  of  any 


Appendix  301 

officer,  by  the  majority  vote  of  the  members  of 
the  Executive  Committe  present  at  any  meeting, 
provided  notice  of  such  action  with  reasons 
therefor,  be  presented  to  the  member  and  to  the 
Executive  Committee,  at  least  one  week  before 
the  meeting. 

ARTICLE  IV 

GOVERNMENT 

SEC.  i.  The  governing  body  of  this  Club 
shall  consist  of  a  Board  of  Directors  of  twelve 
persons,  divided  into  two  groups  of  six  each. 
The  tenure  of  office  of  the  Directors  shall  be  two 
years,  but  only  six  Directors'  terms  can  expire 
by  limitation  in  any  one  year.  Therefore  at 
each  annual  meeting  of  the  Club  six  new  mem- 
bers shall  be  elected  by  ballot  of  a  majority  of  the 
members  present,  due  notice  having  been  given 
in  advance  to  all  members. 

SEC.  2.  The  Board  of  Directors  shall  elect 
at  its  annual  meeting,  from  its  own  members,  by 
ballot  and  a  majority  vote,  a  President,  four 
Vice-Presidents,  a  Secretary,  a  Treasurer  and  a 
General  Manager. 

SEC.  3.  There  shall  also  be  an  Executive 
Committee,  to  consist  of  the  officers  of  the  Club, 
as  mentioned  in  Section  2,  the  President  and 


302  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Secretary  of  the  Senior  Class  of  Kimball  Union 
Academy,  and  ten  persons  to  be  chosen  by  the 
Board  of  Directors  at  its  annual  meeting. 

SEC.  4.  Vacancies  occurring  in  the  Board  of 
Directors  and  Executive  Committee  may  be 
filled  by  the  President,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the 
Executive  Committee,  to  complete  the  year  in 
which  they  occur. 

SEC.  5.  At  the  annual  meeting  a  Nominating 
Committee,  consisting  of  three  members,  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  presiding  officer;  its  duty 
shall  be  to  present  a  list  of  candidates  to  fill 
vacancies  in  the  Board  of  Directors. 

ARTICLE  v 

DUTIES  OF  OFFICERS 

SEC.  i.  The  duties  of  officers  shall  be  such 
as  pertain  to  their  respective  offices  in  similar 
clubs.  The  President  shall  be  ex-officio  Chair- 
man of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee. 

SEC.  2.  The  Vice- Presidents  shall  perform 
the  duties  of  the  President  in  his  absence,  in  the 
order  of  seniority  of  office. 

SEC.  3.  The  Secretary  shall  record  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Club,  of  its  Board  of  Directors, 
and  its  Executive  Committee,  in  books  to  be 


Appendix  303 

kept  for  that  purpose ;  shall  have  charge  of  the 
records  of  the  Club  and  of  its  publications; 
shall  conduct  the  correspondence  of  the  Club,  and 
keep  a  record  thereof;  shall  inform  members, 
Directors,  and  officers  of  their  election,  and  shall 
give  notice  of  all  meetings,  and  inform  Direc- 
tors and  officers  of  all  matters  requiring  their 
attention. 

SEC.  4.  The  Treasurer  shall  collect  all  bills 
and  assessments  due  the  Club;  shall  pay  from 
the  funds  of  the  Club  all  bills  duly  approved 
by  the  President  or  the  General  Manager;  shall 
send  to  the  Secretary  at  least  once  a  month,  the 
names  and  addresses  of  all  new  members.  He 
shall  furnish,  at  the  request  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  a  statement  of  the  financial  condition 
of  the  Club. 

SEC.  5.  The  General  Manager  shall  have 
general  oversight  of  all  the  activities  planned  by 
the  Club  for  carrying  on  its  work  as  indicated 
in  Article  2. 

ARTICLE    VI 
MEETINGS 

SEC.  I.  There  shall  be  a  regular  meeting  of 
the  Club  on  the  third  Saturday  of  each  month, 
and  the  third  Saturday  of  September  shall  be  the 


304  Wild  Bird  Guests 

date  of  the  annual  meeting.  A  printed  notice  of 
each  regular  meeting  shall  be  posted  in  at  least 
two  conspicuous  places  in  the  village,  seven  days 
prior  to  each  meeting. 

SEC.  2.  A  notice  of  the  annual  meeting  shall 
be  mailed  to  each  member  not  less  than  ten  days 
prior  to  such  meeting. 

SEC.  3.  A  special  meeting  may  be  called  at 
any  time  on  three  days'  notice,  by  the  President, 
by  the  General  Manager,  or  on  a  written  applica- 
tion signed  by  three  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee. 

SEC.  4.  Nine  members  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  at  any  meeting  of  the  Club. 

SEC.  5.  Meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee 
may  be  held  at  such  times  as  may  be  appointed 
by  the  President,  or  in  his  absence,  by  the 
Secretary,  and  two  days'  notice  of  each  meeting 
shall  be  given.  Three  members  shall  constitute 
a  quorum. 

SEC.  6.  The  order  of  business  shall  be  as 
follows: 

Reading  records  of  previous  meeting. 

Reports  of  committees. 

Reading  of  communications. 

Election  of  members. 

Unfinished  business. 

New  business. 


Appendix  305 

SEC.  7.  Robert's  manual  shall  be  the  authority 
for  the  decision  of  disputed  questions  of  order 
and  debate. 

ARTICLE    VII 

AMENDMENTS 

Amendments  or  alterations  of  the  Constitution 
may  be  made  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  mem- 
bers present  at  any  meeting,  provided  written 
notice  of  the  proposed  change  shall  have  been 
sent  to  every  member  of  the  Club  not  less  than 
four  days  prior  to  said  meeting 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   BRUSH   HILL 
BIRD  CLUB 


ARTICLE    I 

NAME 


This  Club  shall  be  known  as  the  Brush  Hill 
Bird  Club. 


ARTICLE    II 
PURPOSE 


The  purpose  of  this  Club  shall  be  to  encourage 
protection  of  and  interest  in  bird  life  in  our 
community. 


ARTICLE    III 

MEMBERSHIP 


SECTION  i.  The  membership  in  this  Club 
shall  consist  of  Active  Membership,  Active 
Family  Membership,  Associate  Membership, 

Life  Membership,  Patrons,  and  Benefactors. 

306 


Appendix  307 

SECTION  2.  Any  resident  of  the  Brush  Hill- 
Blue  Hill  district  of  Milton  may  become  an 
Active  Member  on  payment  of  the  prescribed 
dues. 

SECTION  3.  Any  family  residing  in  the  Brush 
Hill-Blue  Hill  district  of  Milton  may  obtain  a 
Family  Membership  on  payment  of  the  pre- 
scribed dues. 

SECTION  4.  Any  non-resident  in  sympathy 
with  the  purpose  of  this  Club  may  become  an 
Associate  Member  on  payment  of  the  prescribed 
dues. 

SECTION  5.  Any  person  may  become  a  Life 
Member  on  payment  of  the  prescribed  fee. 

SECTION  6.  Any  person  may  become  a 
Patron  on  payment  of  the  prescribed  fee. 

SECTION  7.  Any  person  may  become  a 
Benefactor  on  payment  of  the  prescribed  fee. 

SECTION  8.  The  dues  for  Active  Members 
shall  be  $i,  payable  annually. 

SECTION  9.  The  dues  for  Active  Family 
Membership  shall  be  £5,  payable  annually. 

SECTION  10.  The  dues  for  Associate  Member- 
ship shall  be  $i,  payable  annually. 

SECTION  n.  The  fee  for  Life  Membership 
shall  be  $25. 

SECTION  12.  The  fee  for  a  Patron  shall  be 
$100. 


308  Wild  Bird  Guests 

SECTION  13.  The  fee  for  a  Benefactor  shall  be 
£1000. 

SECTION  14.  The  voting  power  shall  be 
limited  to  active  members. 

ARTICLE    IV 
MEETINGS   OF   THE   CLUB 

Meetings  shall  be  held  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Executive  Committee.  The  first  meeting  after 
September  i  shall  be  the  business  meeting  at 
which  the  election  of  officers  for  the  ensuing  year 
shall  be  held. 

ARTICLE  v 

GOVERNMENT 

The  officers  of  the  Club  shall  consist  of  a 
President,  Vice-President,  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
and  General  Manager.  The  officers  of  the  Club 
shall  constitute  the  Executive  Committee,  which 
Committee  shall  pass  upon  all  business  that  is 
to  be  brought  before  the  Club  for  action. 


DICTION 


-/fo 

MARJIN  HOV5E 


309 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

IN  the  preparation  of  this  book  the  author  has 
had  much  assistance — some  direct  from  friends, 
some  through  the  medium  of  books,  pamphlets, 
and  reports.  To  everyone  who  has  given  him 
any  help,  direct  or  indirect,  he  acknowledges  his 
indebtedness  and  proffers  his  thanks,  and  to 
none  more  gratefully  than  to  those  scientific 
men  in  Washington  and  elsewhere,  upon  whose 
patient,  accurate,  but  often  unappreciated  work, 
some  of  the  strongest  pleas  for  bird  conservation 
are  based. 

By  far  the  most  important  assistance  which 
the  writer  received,  was  that  given  by  his  friend, 
Frederic  H.  Kennard,  of  Boston,  landscape  archi- 
tect and  ornithologist,  whose  peculiar  combina- 
tion of  knowledge  enabled  him  to  contribute  the 
sub-chapter  on  the  trees,  shrubs,  and  creepers 
which  are  attractive  to  birds  (and  in  many  cases 
to  man,  as  well),  quite  the  most  unique  and  in 
many  respects  the  most  valuable  part  of  the 

whole  book. 

310 


Appendix  311 

Edward  Howe  Forbush,  State  Ornithologist 
for  Massachusetts,  has  helped  the  author  in 
many  ways — by  kindly  advice  on  several  occa- 
sions, by  the  contribution  of  photographs  for 
illustrations,  but  most  of  all  through  his  books — 
Useful  Birds  and  Their  Protection  and  Game 
Birds,  Wild  Fowl,  and  Shore  Birds,  two  of  the 
most  useful  bird  books  ever  penned.  When  an 
unbiased  history  of  American  wild  bird  conser- 
vation is  written,  there  will  be  few  names  which 
stand  out  with  greater  prominence  than  that  of 
Edward  Howe  Forbush,  who  never  pauses  in  his 
work  to  tell  the  world  that  it  is  he  who  is  doing 
it. 

The  author  is  also  indebted  to  Mr.  E.  A. 
Quarles,  of  Forest  Hills,  Long  Island,  for  valuable 
suggestions  and  advice. 

Others  who  have  given  direct  assistance  in 
one  way  or  another  are : 

Mrs.  Helen  Foster  Barnett,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Baynes, 
Professor  S.  A.  Baldwin,  William  Brewster, 
Harold  C.  Bryant,  John  Burnham,  Miss  Milli- 
cent  Bush,  Walter  M.  Buswell,  Hon.  Fred.  W. 
Chambers,  Andre  Champollion,  Frank  M.  Chap- 
man, Frank  C.  Clarke,  Austin  Corbin,  Miss  Annie 
H.  Duncan,  Miss  Kate  Percy  Douglas,  William 
Dutcher,  George  S.  Edgell,  George  M.  Fales, 
Waldo  B.  Fay,  Dr.  G.  W.  Field,  Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher, 


312  Wild  Bird  Guests 

Prof.  P.  B.  Hadley,  Ralph  Hoffmann,  Paul  Howe, 
Dr.  Ernest  L.  Huse,  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Lucas, 
Mrs.  W.  S.  McCrea,  S.  R.  Morse,  Philip  Orcutt, 
Edward  L.  Parker,  Miss  Marie  Parker,  C.  H. 
Pease,  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Roberts,  Hon.  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  James  Savage,  A.  R.  Shattuck,  Mrs. 
Louis  Saint-Gaudens,  Miss  Helen  Woodruff 
Smith,  Wilbur  Smith,  Miss  Kate  Stewart,  Mrs. 
Ezra  R.  Thayer,  Dr.  Townsend  W.  Thorndike, 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Townsend,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Town- 
send,  William  Lyman  Underwood,  Frederick  C. 
Walcott,  Mahonri  Young. 

PRINCIPAL    BOOKS    CONSULTED 

Our  Vanishing  Wild  Life.  By  DR.  WILLIAM 
T.  HORNADAY.  A  book  which  should  be 
read  by  everyone  interested  in  wild  life 
conservation. 

Methods  of  Attracting  Wild  Birds.  By  GILBERT 
H.  TRAFTON. 

How  to  Attract  and  Protect  Wild  Birds.  By 
MARTIN  HIESEMAN.  An  account  of  the 
wonderful  and  successful  experiments  of 
Baron  Hans  von  Berlepsch. 

Useful  Birds  and  Their  Protection.  By  EDWARD 
HOWE  FORBUSH. 

Game  Birds,  Wild  Fowl,  and  Shore  Birds.  By 
EDWARD  HOWE  FORBUSH. 


Appendix  313 

Nature  Study  and  Life.  By  PROF.  CLIFTON  F. 
HODGE. 

Birds  in  Their  Relation  to  Man.  By  DR.  CLAR- 
ENCE M.  WEED  and  DR.  NED  DEARBORN. 

Wild  Life  Conservation  in  Theory  and  Practice. 
By  DR.  WILLIAM  T.  HORNADAY  and  FRED- 
ERICK C.  WALCOTT. 

Handbook  of  Birds  of  Eastern  North  America. 
By  FRANK  M.  CHAPMAN.  The  best  popular 
all-round  bird  book  for  the  region  it  covers. 

The  Woodpeckers.    By  FANNY  HARDY  ECKSTORM. 

Sanctuary.  A  Bird  Masque.  By  PERCY  MAC- 
KAYE.  The  first  serious  attempt  to  aid 
the  cause  of  wild  life  conservation  by  means 
of  the  drama. 

The  Present  Hour.     By  PERCY  MACKAYE. 

PRINCIPAL   PAMPHLETS  AND   REPORTS   CONSULTED 

A  Lapland  Longspur  Tragedy.  By  DR.  THOMAS 
S.  ROBERTS. 

Report  of  the  Buffalo  Academy  of  Natural  Sci- 
ences, 1908. 

Coccidiosis  in  the  English  Sparrow.  By  PROF. 
PHILIP  B.  HADLEY. 

The  Cat— What  Shall  We  Do  with  It  ?  By  M.  S. 
and  L.  A.  LACEY. 

The  Cat  and  the  Transmission  of  Disease.  By 
DR.  C.  A.  OSBORNE. 


314  Wild  Bird  Guests 

The  English  Sparrow  as  a  Pest.  By  NED 
DEARBORN. 

Birds  of  Laysan  and  the  Leeward  Islands.  By 
WALTER  K.  FISHER. 

Report  of  an  Expedition  to  Laysan  Island,  1911. 
By  HOMER  R.  DILL  and  WILLIAM  ALANSON 
BRYAN. 

Some  Common  Birds  in  Their  Relation  to  Agri- 
culture. By  F.  E.  L.  BEAL. 

The  Hawks  and  Owls  of  the  United  States.  By 
A.  K.  FISHER. 

Birds  as  Weed  Destroyers.      By  SYLVESTER  D. 

JUDD. 

Food  of  Bobolinks,  Blackbirds,  and  Crackles.      By 

F.  E.  L.  BEAL. 
The  Common  Crow  of  the  United  States.       By 

WALTER  B.  BARROWS  and  E.  A.  SCHWARZ. 
A   Determination  of  the  Economic  Status  of  the 

Western   Meadow   Lark   (Surnella   neglectd) 

in  California.     By  HAROLD  CHILD  BRYANT. 
Birds  in  Relation  to  a  Grasshopper  Outbreak  in 

California.     By  HAROLD  CHILD  BRYANT. 
Bird  Houses    and    How    to   Build    Them.     By 

NED  DEARBORN. 

Parts  of  the   book   have   appeared  in  Bird 

Lore,    The   National  Geographic  Magazine,    The 
Outlook,  The  American  Museum  Journal,  Recrea- 


Appendix  315 

tion,  Collier's  Weekly,  The  Boston  Evening  Tran- 
script, and  The  Boston  Herald,  and  the  author 
hereby  expresses  his  appreciation  of  the  cour- 
tesies extended  to  him  by  the  editors  of  these 
publications. 


INDEX 


Abt,  Franz,  121 

Aigrettes,  55,  56 

Albatross,  57 ;  black-footed,  58 

Alma  (Michigan)  Bird  Club,  273 

American  Game  Protective  and 

Propagation  Association,   36, 

191,  283,  296 
American  Museum  of  Natural 

History,  295 
Antilles,  87 
Arkansas,  103 

Arnold  Arboretum,  182,  280 
Art,  birds  used  in,  119,  120 
Audubon,  21,  27,  47 
Audubon  Bird  House  Company, 

199 
Audubon     Societies,      National 

Association  of,  123,  148,  199, 

217,  297 
Audubon  Society,  Connecticut, 

74 
Aughey,  Professor  Samuel,  89, 

90,  103 
Auk,  The,  12 
Auk,  extinction  of,  45 
Australia,  Ballarat,  88 

B 

Bahamas,  87 
Ballarat,  Australia,  88 
Barnett,  Helen  Foster,  231 
Barrows,   Professor  Walter   B., 

105 

Baths,  bird,  128 ;  construction  of, 
221;  dangers  from  cats,  229; 
depth  of  water,  222;  descrip- 
tion of,  223;  description  of 


one  made  by  author,  227; 
footing,  227;  list  of  birds 
making  use  of,  226;  methods, 
230;  necessity  for,  219;  plans, 
230 

Baynes,  Mrs.,  6,  7,  8,  128,  151 
Beal,  Professor  F.  E.  L.,  83,  108, 

112 

Bears,  harm  done  by,  24 

Beethoven,  120 

Beetles,  predacious,  destruction 
of,  85 

Berlepsch,  Baron  Hans  von, 
152,  157,  193,  216;  bird 
houses  made  by,  196,  198; 
nest  box,  128 

Bermudas,  87 

Berries,  winter  food,  1 6 

Biological  Laboratory  at  Kings- 
ton, Rhode  Island,  18 

Bird  Craft,  74 

Bird-feeders,  134,  135 

Bird-feeding,  danger  from  cats, 
146;  in  the  home  garden,  136; 
methods,  130,  142,  145;  neces- 
sity, 131;  plans,  130;  seed- 
eating  birds,  146;  snowstorms, 
129;  winter,  129,  131,  132, 
145,  146 

Bird-food,  coal  ashes,  141;  de- 
scription of,  169;  fruits,  169; 
general  list  for  winter  use, 
138-140;  grit,  141;  herbaceous 
plants,  190;  hot,  preparation 
of,  158,  159;  mortar,  141; 
salt,  140;  seeds,  90,  91,  137- 
140;  suet,  138 

Bird  Lore,  plan  of  census,  294 

Bird  Masque,  281 


317 


318 


Index 


"Bird-minders,"  108 

Bird-protectors,  136 

"Bird  Socials,"  279 

Birds,  allies  of  farmers,  81; 
check  upon  weeds,  82;  cloth- 
mg>  39 »  destruction  of,  by 
fences,  41,  42;  food,  39,  43; 
ornaments,  39;  paradise  for, 
193;  value  of,  86 

Birds  bathing,  description  of,  220 

"Birds'  Christmas  Tree,"  159 

Birds  of  prey,  American,  35; 
Cooper's  hawk,  34;  duck 
hawk,  34;  feeding  habits  of, 
93»  94!  sharp-shinned  hawk, 

34 

Blackbirds,  70;  family,  107; 
food  of,  83;  red-winged,  33; 
value  of,  107;  yellow-headed, 

Blake,  William,  122 

Bluebirds,    116;  destruction  of, 

12;  homes  for,    195;  nesting 

box,  199;  situation  of  nesting 

box,  206;  value  of,  HI,  112; 

winter  feeding  of,  164 
Bobolinks,  116;  economic  value 

of,   84;  harm  done  by,    107, 

1 08;  slaughter  of,  108;  value 

of,  107 

Bob  white,  food  of,  value  of,  91 
Boobies,  59 

Borneo:  birds  of  paradise,  ex- 
tinct species,  head-hunting 

natives,  40 
Boxes,  bird,  kinds  making  use 

of,  199 
Boy  Scouts,   "first  aid"  corps, 

236;  work  of,  130,  132 
Boys,    small,    bird    clubs,    266; 

destruction  by,  71,   72,  264; 

teaching  of  ,265 
Breakfast,     birds     invited     to, 

table,  nuts,  6 

Brewster,  William,  27,  189 
Brookline    (Mass.)   Bird    Club, 

280 
Brush  Hill  Bird  Club  of  Milton, 

Mass.,  274 


Bryan,    Professor    William    A., 
61,  107 

Buffalo,  14;  Society  of  Natural 

Sciences,  234 
Bunting,  snow,  139,  145;  value 

of,  1 08 
Bureau    of    Animal     Industry, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  237 
Bureau    of    Biological    Survey, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  291,  297 
Burnham,  John  B.,  letter  from, 

283 

Burroughs,  John,  124 
Buzzard,     turkey,     scavengers, 

value  of,  94 


California,  University  of,  107 

Canaan,  Connecticut,  36 

Cape  Cod,  Massachusetts,  52 

Captain  Cartwright's  Journal, 
24 

Catbird,  description  of  bath, 
224;  value  of,  HI,  113 

Catchers,  bird,  professional,  66 

Caterpillars,  food  for  birds,  84; 
hairy,  food  for  cuckoos,  100 

Cats,  house,  destruction  by, 
methods,  74 

Cats,  belling,  247;  house,  74; 
restraining  of,  247;  tax  on, 
251;  "  Tramp, "  76 ;  unneces- 
sary ones,  249 

Census,  bird,  description  of,  291 ; 
sample,  295 

Chaff, 139 

Chambers,  Fred.  W.,  17 

"Chanticleer"  bow,  123 

Chapman,  Frank  M.f  54,  74,  87, 
253,  294 

Charlestown  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club, 
279 

Chaucer,  122 

Chickadees,  at  breakfast,  6; 
attack  on,  31,  no;  band  of,  9; 
boldness  of,  8 ;  cheerfulness  of, 
116;  eating  sandwich,  7;  fear- 
lessness of,  2 ;  "  food  dish ' '  for, 


Index 


319 


Chickadees —  Continued 

156;  friendliness  of,  128;  Hud- 
sonian,  138,  139,  140,  145; 
in  New  Hampshire,  7;  insect- 
eating  bird,  16;  investigating 
rifle,  7;  nesting  box  for,  situa- 
tion of,  199,  206;  suet,  8; 
tameness  of,  5;  value  of,  no; 
Washington,  159;  window  box, 
148;  winter  food  of,  137; 
work  of,  in 

Chipmunks,  29 

Cincinnati  Zoological  Park,  51 

Citizen  Bird,  74 

Clap  nets,  50 

Claremont  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club,  280 

Clark  University,  251 

Clubs,  bird,  advertising  of,  275; 
debates,  290;  desirability  of, 
272;  dues,  278;  exhibitions, 
280;  growth  of,  297;  members, 
276;  Meriden,  137,  140,  228, 
23I>  273,  281;  necessity  for, 
271;  organizations  interested 
in,  297;  organization  of,  269; 
place  of  meeting,  274;  plea 
for,  298;  work,  278 

Coccidiosis,  disease  of  intestines, 
18;  sparrows  as  carriers  of,  18 

Collectors,  scientific,  72,  73 

Columbus,  Christopher,  value  of 
birds  to,  87 

Connecticut,  Canaan,  36 ;  Stam- 
ford, 14 

Conservation,  bird,  254 

Corbin  Game  Preserve,  41 

Corn,  cracked,  Kaffir,  whole,  139, 
140 

Cornfield  Bird  Club  of  Cornish, 
N.  H.,  279 

Cornish,  N.  H.,  26 

Courage,  10,  n 

"Cover,"  description  of,  167; 
value  of,  1 68 

Cowbirds,  value  of,  107 

Coyotes,  enemies  of  birds,  21 

Crane,  whooping,  extinction  of,  54 

Cranes,  destroyers  of  insects, 
88,89 


Creation,  The,  Haydn,  121 
Creepers,  16;  brown,  138,  145; 

destroyers  of  insects,  1 1 1 
Crickets,  black,  destruction  of, 

85 

Crossbills,  66,  148;  American, 
3,  140;  fearlessness  of,  141; 
white-winged,  3,  140,  144 

Crows,  116,  133,  138,  246; 
economic  value  of,  105,  106; 
in  raccoons'  pen,  25;  nest 
robbing  by,  33 

Crumbs,  bread,  dog-biscuit, 
doughnut,  139,  140 

Cuckoos,  black-billed,  100 ;  Class- 
ification of,  84;  destroyers  of 
insects,  101 ;  yellow-billed,  100 

Curlews,  bristle-thighed,  59;  de- 
stroyers of  insects,  89 ;  Esqui- 
mau, 89 ;  Esquimau,  extinction 
of i  5J»  53;  nesting  grounds, 
slaughter  of,  winter  quarters 
of,  52 

D 

Damage  done  by  "so-called" 
sportsmen,  63,  64 

Deane,  Walter,  189 

Dearborn,  Ned,  79,  101,  242 

Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  81,  82, 
102,  190,  191,  195,  264 

Destroyers  of  bird  life,  civilized 
man,  savages,  40 

Destroyers  of  insects,  88 

Destruction  of  birds,  disease,  10, 
17;  elements,  10;  foreigners, 
66;  forest  fires,  42;  light- 
houses, 40;  lumber  camps,  71 ; 
mining  camps,  71;  Statue  of 
Liberty,  New  York  Harbor, 
40;  wholesale,  39;  wild  birds, 
17;  wire  fences,  41;  wires, 
telephone,  telegraph,  electric 
light,  trolley,  41 

Directory  of  Officials  and  Organi- 
zations Concerned  with  the 
Protection  of  Birds  and  Game, 
297 


320 


Index 


Diseases,  cholera,  bubonic  plague 

i? 

Dodo,  extinction  of,  cause,  78 

Dogs,  bird,  71;  destroyers,  77; 
Esquimau,  77 

Dormouse,  30 

Dough  bird,  extinction  of,  51-53 

Dove,  mourning,  food  of,  91 ; 
wild,  190 

Drinking  pools,  necessity  for, 
219 

Ducks,  14,  17;  Labrador,  ex- 
tinction of,  45;  mallard,  nest 
boxes  of,  213;  value  of,  88; 
wild,  191;  wood,  nest  boxes, 
213 

Dutcher,  William,  123,  148,  199 


E 


Early  settlers:  friends  of  birds, 
destruction  of  bird  enemies,  43 
Eckstorm,  Fanny  Hardy,  102 
Eggs,  auks,  39;  destruction  of, 
25;  eider  ducks',  24;  Esqui- 
maux, 39 ;  as  food,  39 
Egret,  snowy,  extinction  of,  54 
Elements,  help  against,  17 
Enemies,  savage  people,  civilized 

man,  37 

English  Sparrow  as  a  Pest,  79 
Epidemics,  17;  at  Utah,  237 
Ermine,  26 
Esquimaux,  39 

European  sparrows,  extermina- 
tion of,  241 


Farmers'  Bulletin,  79 

Farmers,  destroyers  of  birds  of 

prey,  64;  help  given  by,  263 
Faxon,  C.  E.,  189 
Fay      School,       Southborough, 

Mass.,  270 

Feathers,  for  women's  hats,  40 
Federal    Migratory    Bird    Law, 

259 
Feeding  devices,  Audubon  food 


house,  152-155;  food  bell,  155; 
"food  dish,"  156;  food  tray, 
147;    food    tree,     156;    food 
trolley,  160;  stuffed  cocoanuts, 
159;  weathercock  food  house, 
149-151 ;  window  box,  148 
Feeding  ground,  4 
Feeding  stations,  134,  135,  146 
Ferry  Hall,  Lake  Forest,  111.,  270 
Finches,  16,  59;  purple,  129,  138, 
144;  sharp-tailed,  27;  value  of, 
1 08 
Fisher,  A.  K.,  35,  82,  92,  94,  98, 

159 

Fisher,  Walter  K.,  58 
Flickers,  34,    138;  nesting  box, 
199;  situation  of,  209;  value  of, 

101 

Flies,  house,  destruction  of,  104; 
ichneumon,  destruction  of,  85 

Floods,  effect  of,  on  ground- 
nesting  birds,  13,  14 

Flycatchers,  great -crested,  nest- 
ing box,  199,  209;  method  of 
feeding,  103 

Food  bell   155 

"Food-cake,  "158 

"Food-dish,  "i  56 

Food  houses,  142;  Audubon,  152- 
1 55 ;  weathercock,  149 ;  descrip- 
tion of,  151 

Food  shelters,  147 

"Food  stone,"  138,  158 

Food  tray,  description  of,  147 

Food  tree,  5;  description  of,  156 

Food  trolley,  142;  description  of, 
use,  1 60 

Forbes,  Professor,  112 

Forbush,  Edward  Howe,  16,  37, 
75,  87,  90,  247 

Foreigners,  ignorant,  damage 
done  by,  259;  trouble  with, 
260 

Forest  fires,  damage  done  by, 
255;  prevention  and  evils,  42 

Forestry,  254 

Foxes,  enemies  of  birds,  22,  23; 
good  points,  24 

Frankfort,  Kentucky,  46 


Index 


321 


Freeman,  Harriet  E.,  230 
Fruits,  food  for  birds,  lists,  170- 
186 

G 

Game  birds,  22 
Game  wardens,  69 
Gander,  wild,  116 
Geese,  14;  value  of,  88 
Germany,  establishment  of  bird 

sanctuaries,  198 
Goldfinches,  66,  139,  140 
Gophers,  84 
Goshawk,  habitat,  93 
Grackles,     value    of,     107;    as 

robbers  of  nests,  32 
Great  Lakes,  n 
Grebe,  pied-billed,  37,  44 
Grieg,  Edouard,  121 
Grit,  141 
Grosbeak,    cardinal,    138,    139; 

pine,  2,  31,  116,  138,  144,  148; 

rosebreasted,  138 
Grouse,  19,  22,  190;  ruffed,  139; 

value  of,  90 
Gulls,  Franklin,  economic  value 

of,    85;   scavengers,    87;   sea, 

beauty  of,  116;  market  for,  44 


H 


Hadley,  Professor  Philip  B.,  18 
Hale,  Edward  Everett,  230 
Hanover  (N.  H.)  Bird  Club,  274 
Hawaiian     Islands,     57;     birds 

seen  on,  exploration  of,  58 
Hawks,  classification  of,  92; 
Cooper's,  35,  84,  238;  destruc- 
tiveness  of,  84;  duck,  habitat, 
93?  goshawk,  habitat,  93; 
marsh,  habitat,  food,  method 
of  hunting,  value  of,  young, 
95-97;  night,  food  of,  103; 
red-shouldered,  95 ;  red-tailed, 
range  of,  94;  sharp-shinned, 
35,  84,  238;  sparrow,  nesting 
box,  situation  of,  199,  213; 
species,  92;  value  to  farmers, 
91,  94 

21 


Haydn,  The  Creation,  121 

Henshaw,  H.  W.,  291 

Heron,   great  white,   extinction 

of,  54 
Herons,  89 ;  destroyers  of  insects, 

88 ;  market  for,  44 
Hieseman,  Martin,  216 
Hodge,  Professor  Clifton  F.,  164, 

243 

Honey-eaters,  59 
Hornaday,  William  T.,  283 
Hospitality,  necessity  for,  163 
Houses,  bird,  description  of,  195, 

196 

Humming-bird,       117;       ruby- 
throated,  144,  190 
Huse,  Ernest  L.,  296;  descrip- 
tion of  bird  bath  of,  228 


Ibises,  destroyers  of  insects,  88 
Ice:  insect-eating  birds,  16 
"Ike"  Bonner's  stage,  I 
Information,  current,  297 
Insect-eating  birds,  II 
Insect  life,  scarcity  of,  12 
Inspiration   of   birds   to   poets, 
English,  122;  American,  124 
Isle  of  Wight,  256 
Italy,  66,  69 


J 


Jacobs,  Captain,  61 

Japan,  57 

Jay,  blue,  as  a  robber  of  nests, 
32,  133,  144;  aesthetic  value 
of,  1 1 6 ;  death  of,  35 ;  economic 
value  of,  105;  food  for,  138, 
139,  140;  tameness  of,  151; 
window  box  for,  148 

Journal,  Captain  Cartwright's, 
24 

Judd,  Dr.  Sylvester  D.,  83,  91, 
no 

Juncos,  1 8,  144,  1 60;  aesthetic 
value  of,  1 1 6;  economic  value 
of,  1 08;  food  for,  138,  139,  140 


322 


Index 


K 


Kennard,    Frederic    H.,    3,    28, 

54,  152,  167,  190,  216 
Kentucky,  Frankfort,  46 
Killing  for  market,  40 
King,  Professor,  91 
King  of  the  Pacific,  57 
Kingbird,  33 

Kingbird,  flycatcher,  food  of,  104 
Kinglets,  value  of,  work  of,  no 


Labrador,  52,  77;  duck,  extinc- 
tion of,  45,  46 
Landlord,  bird  lover  as,  192 
Lapland  longspurs,  12,  139 
Lark,  shore,  139 
Law,   Federal  Migratory   Bird, 

259 
Laysan,    56,    57;   slaughter   on, 

61,62 
Lighthouses,  "bird  rests,"  256; 

damage  done  by,  255 
Lime,  bird,  66 
Locusts,     destruction     of,     86; 

Rocky  Mountain,  103 
Longspur,  Lapland,  12,  139 
Lumbermen,  damage  done  by, 

263 

M 

MacKaye,  Percy,  118,  231,  281 

Magdalen  Islands,  52 

Maid  of  the  Mist,  14 

Malaria,  104 

Man -o '-war  birds,  59 

Market:  cold  storage,  44;  game 
dealers,  44;  growth  of,  44; 
gunning,  256;  gunners,  pro- 
fessional, 44;  hunter,  64; 
methods  used,  64;  milliners, 
44;  the  passing  of,  256; 
plumage,  39,  40;  plume  hunt- 
ing, 256 

Marsh  hens,  27 

Martins,  purple,  12,  109;  situa- 
tion of  nest  boxes,  209 


Massachusetts,  12,  13,  75;  New- 
ton Centre,  152,  167;  Stone- 
ham,  134;  Woods  Hole,  51 

Mauritius,  Island  of,  78 

McAtree,  W.  L.,  191 

Meadowlarks,  70;  economic 
status  of,  107;  value  of,  107; 
Western,  107 

Mealworms,  study  of,  165 

Meat,  raw,  138 

Meriden,  N.  H.,  i,  2,  4,  5,  31, 
33,  144,  145,  156,  163,  190, 
199,  214,  220,  231 ;  bird  baths, 
229;  Bird  Club,  137,  140,  228, 
231,  273,  281,  289;  destroying 
bird  enemies,  240 

Merriam,  Clinton  Hart,  264 

Mexico,  Gulf  of,  1 1 

Mice,  meadow,  damage  done 
by,  30;  destruction  of,  97 

Michelet,  Jules,  122 

Michigan,  in 

Miller-birds,  59 

Milliners'  market,  44 

Miners,  damage  done  by,  262 

Mink,  25 

Minnesota,  289;  Natural  History 
Survey,  12 

Minnetonka  Game  Refuge,  289 

Mocking  birds,  value  of,  in 

Mormons,  84 

Music,  origin  of,  120 

Muskrats  as  egg-eaters,  29 


N 


Natural  enemies  of  birds,  20 
Nature,  balance  of,  38 
Nebraska,  89,  103,  109 
Negroes,  teachers  of,  262 
Nest  boxes,  Berlepsch,  128,  200; 
best  places  for,  205;  cleaning 
of,    214;    condition    of,    202; 
general     situation     of,     202; 
position  of,  203;  preparation 
for  hanging,  204;  selection  of, 
201;  sizes,  204;  time,  reasons 
for,  201 
Nesting  material,  217 


Index 


323 


Nesting  sites,  necessity  for,  192 

New  England,  12,  116 

Newfoundland,  52 

New  Hampshire,  7,  41,  144; 
Cornish,  26;  Meridcn,  145, 
156,  163,  190,  199,  214,  220, 
231 ;  Meridcn  Bird  Club,  289 

Newton  Centre,  Mass.,  152, 167 

New  York  City,  295 

New  York  Zoological  Society, 
297 

Norfolk,  Connecticut,  283 

North  Carolina,  91 

Nutcracker,  Clark's,  138 

Nuthatches,  5,  16,  66,  137,  159; 
red-breasted,  2,  138,  139,  140, 
145,  199,  208;  situation  of 
nest  boxes,  199,  208;  value  of, 
no;  white-breasted,  2,  138, 
139,  140,  145,  199,  208;  work 
of,  no 

Nuts,  6;  broken,  5,  139;  nut- 
meat,  128 


Oats,  139 

Opossums,  destroyers  of  nests, 

3° 

Origin  of  music,  120 

Orioles,  market  for,  44;  value  of, 
107 

Ornis,  Spirit  of  all  birds,  118 

Osborne,  C.  A.,  251 

Owls,  Arcadian,  212;  barn,  food 
of,  value  of,  98;  classification 
of,  92;  destructiveness  of,  33; 
great  horned,  economic  value 
of,  33,  34,  84;  hooting  of,  117; 
pellets  of,  99;  screech,  33,  34, 
138,  nesting  box  of,  199; 
situation  of  nesting  box  of, 
214;  range  of,  99;  value  of, 
99;  short-eared,  food  of,  82; 
species,  92;  value  to  farmers, 
91 


Paraquet,    Carolina,   extinction 
of,  54 


Pastoral  Symphony,  120 

Pease,  C.  H.,  36 

Pelicans,  white,  food  of,  88 

Pennsylvania,  42;  "The  Scalp 
Act,"  264 

Pests,  destruction  of,  81 ;  lists  of, 
90 

Petrels,  59 

Phoebe,  habits  of,  104;  houses  of, 
215;  nests  of,  13 

Pigs  as  destroyers  of  birds,  77 

Pigeon,  passenger,  armies  of, 
47;  extinction  of,  46;  flight 
formation  of,  46;  flocks  raised 
in  confinement,  5 1 ;  harvest  of, 
methods  used,  48,  49,  50; 
markets  for,  50;  nests,  48; 
slaughter  at  roosts,  48 ;  squabs, 
48 

Pike,  an  enemy  of  birds,  37 

Plover,  golden,  59;  upland,  89 

Plumage,  demand  for,  44,  54 

Plume-hunter,  118;  "so-called" 
sportsman,  63 

Poachers,  Italian,  69 

Polar  bears,  24 

Policemen  of  the  air,  103 

Pork,  138 

Potato  bugs,  90 

Poultry.  22 

Problems  for  beginners,  233; 
cats,  training  of,  247;  crows, 
246;  disease,  236;  dogs,  253; 
European  sparrows,  240-242; 
floods,  natural  enemies,  killing 
of,  238;  preservation  tracts, 
239;  storms,  268;  waterfalls, 

234 

Protection  of  birds,  aesthetic 
reasons,  115;  by  law,  62; 
economic  reasons,  8 1 ;  moral 
reasons,  115,  125,  126 


Quail,  16,  19,  22,  139,  140; 
Massachusetts,  saving  of,  135; 
starvation  of,  in  Massachu- 
setts, 16;  value  of,  90 


324 


Index 


Quarles,  E.  A.,  261 
Quarles,  F.  A.,  36 
Quicklime,  birds  buried  in,  17 


Raccoons,  destructiveness  of, 
24,  30;  food  of,  25 

Rails,  59;  photographing  of,  60 

Raquet,  description  and  use  of, 
67 

Rats  as  destroyers,  29,  30 

Redpolls,  2;  flocks  of,  4;  food  of, 
139;  friendliness  of,  144;  win- 
dow box  for,  148 

Redstarts,  65 

Rehder,  Alfred,  190 

Resources,  natural,  conservation 
of,  125 

Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.,  Bird  Club, 

Rhode  Island,  Biological  Labora- 
tory at  Kingston,  18 

Roberts,  Thomas  S.,  12 

Robins,  18;  houses  of,  216; 
legal  killing  of,  69;  slaughter 
of,  in  Southern  States,  70; 
value  of,  in,  112;  winter 
feeding  of,  164;  winter  hard- 
ships of ,  13;  young,  33 

Roccolos,  description  and  use 
of,  67 

Rodents,  destruction  of,  81 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  289 

Royal  Society  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  Birds  at  St.  Catherine's, 
256 

S 

Saint-Gaudens,  Mrs.  Louis,  231 

Salt,  3,  140 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  85 

Sanctuary,  bird,  55,  190,  231; 
bath,  220;  cats,  248;  descrip- 
tion of  a  successful  one,  283; 
establishment  of,  282;  estab- 
lishment of ,  in  Germany,  198; 
Sanctuary,  118 

Sanderson,  Professor  E.  D.,  in 


Sandpipers,  destroyers  of  insects, 
89 

Sapsucker,  yellow-bellied,  de- 
structiveness of,  84;  nest  boxes 

of,  2 12 

Savage,  James,  14,  15,  234 
Saw  whet,  nest  boxes,  212 
Scalp  Act,  The,  264 
Scarecrow,  246 
Scavengers,  94 ;  sea-gulls,  87 
Schaeffer,  Nathan  C.,  42 
Schubert,  Cymbeline,  121 
Scientists,  value  of,  267 
Scotland,  King  James  I.,  122 
"Seebach,"  193 
Seeds,  kinds  used  for  food,  90, 

91,  138,  139,  140;  kinds  used 

for  winter  food,  137;  purchase 

of,  137 

Seton,  Ernest  Thompson,  215 
Shakespeare,  122 
Shearwaters,  59 
Shelter  woods,  216 
Shelves,  for  Phoebes  and  Robins, 

215 
Shrikes,    destructive    to    small 

birds,  30;  economic  value  of, 

no 

Siegfried,  120 

Siskins,  66;  pine,  2,  4,  139,  144 
Skunks,  25;  damage  done  by,  27 
Skylarks,  66 
Slaughter  of  birds  by  negroes, 

poor  whites,  69,  70 
Smite,  Helen  Woodruff,  281 
Smithsonian  Institute,  99 
Snakes,  black,  milk,  36 
Snipe  family,  17 
Snow,  seed-eating  birds,  16 
Society  for  Prevention  of  Cruelty 

to  Animals,  77 
Sparrows,  16;  chipping,  13,  139, 

140,      144;      European,      18; 

enemy    of    song    birds,     78; 

extermination     of,     30,     241 ; 

field,  18;  food  of,  83;  fox,  138, 

139,    140,    145;  poisoning   of, 

243;  song,  14,  34;  attacked  by 

snake,  37;  description  of  bath, 


Index 


325 


Sparrows —  Continued 

225;  tree,  138,  139,  140; 
economic  value  of,  84;  food 
found  in,  109;  value  of,  108; 
vesper,  138,  139,  140,  144; 
white  crowned,  138,  139,  140, 
144;  white-throated,  18,  138, 
139,  140,  144;  traps,  242 

Spenser,  Edmund,  122 

Spirit  of  all  birds,  Ornis,  118 

Spoonbills,  destroyers  of  in- 
sects, 88,  89 

Sportsmen,  44,  "so-called,"  54, 
257;  true,  257 

Squirrels,  flying,  29;  gray,  29; 
ground,  84;  red,  robbers  of 
nests,  28,  29 

Stark,  118 

Starling,  138;  European,  78,  80; 
insect-destroyers,  89;  nesting 
boxes,  199 

Stickney,  Mr.  Lewis,  31 

Stoneham,  Mass.,  6,  134 

Storms,  1 1 ;  a  means  of  destruc- 
tion, 10 

Storks,  insect-destroyers,  88 

Suet,  133;  as  food,  5;  pockets, 
description  and  use  of,  145; 
suet  stations,  144 

Survey,  Minnesota  Natural  His- 
tory, 12 

Swallows,  bank,  27;  beneficial 
species,  109;  destruction  of, 
12;  tree,  homes  for,  195;  nest- 
ing boxes  for,  199;  situation 
of  nesting  boxes  for,  208 

Swan,  trumpeter,  extinction  of, 

o   54 

Swans,  14;  injured,  234;  rescu- 
ing of,  235;  saving,  15;  value 
of,  88 

Swifts,  destruction  of,  12;  meth- 
od of  feeding  of,  103 

Symbolism  of  birds,  119 


Tameness  of  birds,  59 
Tanagers,  scarlet,  28,  44 


Tar,  the  use  of,  246 

Teal,  59 

Tenebrio  molitor,  165 

Tenebrio  obscurus,  165 

Terns,   58 ;  economic  value  of, 

86;  market  for,  44;  value  to 

sailors,  87 

Thrashers,  value  of,  1 1 1 
Thrush,  34,  66;  hermit,  18,  138, 

145;  value  of,  in,  113 
Titmice,   66;   tufted,    138,    139, 

!59»  value  of,   no;  work  of, 

no 

Townsend,  Charles  H.,  24,  77 
Trafton,  Gilbert  H.,  140,  160 
Traps,  sparrow,  242 
Tropic  birds,  red-tailed,  59 
Trunstones,  59 
Turkey  vultures,  16 
Turtles,  snapping,  35,  36 
Typhoid,  104 


U 


University  of  California,  107 
Utah,  84,  85;  waterfowl,  17 


Village,  The  Bird,  I 
Vireos,  value  of,  work  of,  no 
Virginia,  91 

Vultures,  black,  value  of,  scaven- 
gers, 93,  94;  turkey,  16 

W 

Waco,   Neb.,  Esquimau  curlew 

shot  at,  53 
Wagner,  120 

Walcott,  Frederick  C.,  283 
Walnuts,  English,  7 
Walpole,  N.  H.,  Bird  Club,  274 
Warblers,   n,  66;  myrtle,   138, 

144;  value  of,  no;  work  of, 

no 

Washington,  159 
Waterfalls,  14 


326 


Index 


Waxwings,     cedar,     70;  winter 

feeding  of,  164 
Weasel,      method      of     hungry 

birds,  25;  white,  26 
Weed,    Clarence    Moores,    101, 

H3 

Weeds,  destruction  of,  82 

West  Indies,  52 

Wheat,  140 

Whippoor  wills,  103,  117 

Whites,  ignorant,  261 

Whitman,  Professor  C.  O.,  51 

Wild  birds,  entertainment  in 
winter,  127;  friendliness  of, 
127;  providing  for  needs  of, 
125;  winter  feeding  of,  127; 
winter  foods  of,  129 

Wild  cats,  enemies  of  birds,  21 

Wilson,  Alexander,  46 

Window  boxes,  142,  148 

Window-sill,  5 

Winter,  lack  of  food,  15 

Wisconsin,  91,  102 

Wolverines,  harm  done  by,  27 

Wolves,  enemies  of  birds,  2 1 


Woodcrafters  Bird  Club  of  Cul- 
ver, Ind.,  274 

Woodpeckers,  16,  66;  destroyers 
of  insects,  101 ;  downy,  5,  138, 
144,  160;  nesting  box  of,  199, 
214;  value  of,  102;  hairy,  138, 
144;  nesting  box  of,  199,  214; 
food  of,  102;  flicker,  138; 
pileated,  212;  red-bellied,  138, 
145;  red-headed,  199,  209; 
species,  101;  three-toed,  213; 
value  of,  1 01 

Woods  Hole,  Mass.,  51 

Worms,  mealworms,  raising  of, 
164,  165 

Wrens,  homes  for,  195,  199; 
value  of,  no;  winter,  144; 
work  of,  no 

Wright,  Mabel  Osgood,  74 

Wyncote  (Pa.)   Bird  Club,  274 


Young,     destruction      of,     25; 
robins,  33 


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